• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.41-50
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• 2000

Segmental retaining wall market in Korea has been growing dramatically since late 1990s in both engineered and non-engineered applications. Despite the inherent conservatism in the current design approaches, numerous major and minor structural problems have been reported during and after construction, covering a range of minor structural damage to total collapse. Much still needs to be investigated to fill the gap between the theory and the practice. This paper reviews several design issues with regard to the segmental retaining walls such as the selection of shear strength parameters for backfill soil, local stability, and tiered wall construction. In addition, the effects of shear strength parameters and the fundamental behavior of tiered SRWs are examined based on the results of finite element analysis. Implications of the findings from this study to current design practices were discussed in detail.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.620-625
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• 2002

In this study, the simulated cyclic train loading test was carried out in order to investigate the dynamic behavior in/at the block type reinforced earth retaining wall. The results in this test were compared with unreinforced and reinforced case, respectively. It was shown that we confirmed the correlation between earth pressure and displacement, the confining effect of wall displacement by the effect of geogrid.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.46-52
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• 2003

In this study, the full scale testing method of the geogrid-reiuorced soil Segmental Retaining Walll(SRW) under the simulated train loading were proposed in order to evaluate the applicability of reinforced soil SRW in railway embankment. The train loading was simulated by the design static wheel load and the impact coefficient due to the train passing velocity. This test was focused on the static performance of reinforced soil SRW in terms of the following measuring systems ; the horizontal earth pressure displacement acting on the facing block and the tensile strain along the geogrid. The data gathered from this full scale testing was compared with numerical analysis results by FLAC.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2004

This paper presents the results of stability analyses on soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in a tiered arrangement. Four different walls were examined to investigate the appropriateness of their designs within the context of the current design guidelines based on limit equilibrium. Slope stability analysis against the compound failure mode, which is frequently ignored during design, was also performed based on the method recommended by FHWA design guidelines. Also presented are the results of instrumentation on a full-scale field trial wall constructed as part of this study. The implications of the findings from this study are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of stability analyses on soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in a tiered arrangement. Four different walls were examined to investigate the appropriateness of their designs within the context of the current design guidelines based on limit equilibrium. Slope stability analysis against the compound failure mode, which is frequently ignored during design, was also performed based on the method recommended by FHWA design guidelines. The results indicate that the as-built designs of some of the walls examined do not meet the minimum factors of safety for the external and internal stabilities, and for the compound failure mode. The implications of the findings from this study are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.115-125
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of design case study on soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered configuration. Six different field walls were examined to investigate the appropriateness of their designs within the context of the current design guidelines based on limit equilibrium. Slope stability analysis against the compound failure mode, which is frequently ignored during design, was additionally performed based on the method recommended by FHWA design guidelines. The results indicate that the as-built designs of some of the walls examined do not meet the minimum factors of safety for the external and Internal stabilities, and for the compound failure mode. The implications of the findings from this study are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.51-61
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• 2000

This paper reviews fundamentals of a pseudo-static seismic design/analysis method for soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls. A comparative study on NCMA and FHWA seismic design guidelines, which are one of the most well known design guidelines for mechanically stabilized earth walls, was also performed. The results demonstrate that there exist significant discrepancies in the results of external stability analysis despite the same calculation model used in the two guidelines, due primarily to different seismic coefficient selection criteria. It is also demonstrated that the internal stability calculation model for NCMA guideline tends to yield larger seismic reinforcement force in the shallower reinforcement layers, resulting in an increased number of reinforcement layers at the top of reinforced wall and increased reinforcement lengths to ensure adequate anchorage capacity. The internal stability calculation model adopted by FHWA guideline, however, leads to redistribution of dynamic force to the lower reinforcement layers and thus results n an opposite trend of NCMA guideline. Findings from this study clearly demonstrate a need for more in-depth studies to develop a generally acceptable design/analysis method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.21-29
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• 2005

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on the behavior of a geosynthetic reinforced two-tier segmental retaining wall (GR-SRW) on a yielding foundation. A hypothetical 10 m high two tier GR-SRW to be constructed on an incompetent foundation containing a layer of relative soft soil deposit was considered. A verified finite-element procedure was employed to get insights into the effect of foundation yielding on the wall behavior including the wall deformation and the reinforcement load. It is shown that the effect of foundation yielding is to increase the wall deformation as well as the reinforcement load, thus influencing both the internal as well as the external stability of the wall. Practical implications of the findings obtained from this study are highlighted in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of investigation on the effects of foundation stiffness and surface loading on the performance of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls using the finite element method of analysis. A parametric study was performed by varying the foundation stiffness and the location of surface loading. The results of the analyses indicate that the wall deformation and reinforcement tensile load tend to increase with decreasing foundation stiffness with little variation in the horizontal and vertical stress distributions at the back and the base of the reinforced soil zone. Also revealed is that the increment of reinforcement tensile load due to the presence of surface load may be significantly over-estimated when using the conventional approach. Furthermore, the external stability should be carefully examined when a surface loading is present just behind the reinforced soil zone. The implications of the findings from this study to current design approaches are discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.61-72
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of investigation on the behavior of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered arrangement using the finite element method of analysis. 2D finite element analyses were performed on tiered walls with two levels of offset distance. Cases with equivalent surcharge as suggested by the NCMA design guideline were additionally analyzed in an attempt to confirm the appropriateness of the equivalent surcharge model adopted by NCMA. Deformation characteristics of a tiered wall with small offset distance suggest a compound mode of failure and support current design approaches requiring a global slope stability analysis for design. Also revealed is that the interaction between the upper and lower walls significantly affects not only the performance of the lower wall but also the upper wall, suggesting that the upper walls should also be designed with due consideration of the interaction.