Required strength of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures subjected to varying water levels using numeric-based kinematic analysis

This work developed a numeric-based kinematic approach for evaluating the required strength of three-dimensional (3D) geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures (GRSSs) with different water levels. Instead of directly employing the pore-water pressure coefficient ru, this work utilizes numerical simulations to obtain the distribution of pore-water pressures. The presented method avoids to determine the value of ru, which is uncertain as the variation of water tables. A 3D horn-like failure mechanism is discretized to describe the collapse of GRSSs. On this basis, the seepage forces acting on each element of the discretized mechanism are determined by using an interpolation technique. Thanks to the principle of work rate balance, the required reinforcement of geosynthetics is determined through optimization. Sets of design charts are provided for simplicity of practical use, followed by a sensitivity analysis. Results of this paper indicate that the presence of a seepage flow increases the required strength of reinforcements, whereas the inclusion of 3D effects has an opposite effect. The variation of water levels significantly impacts the required strength and the failure pattern of GRSSs. The proposed method in this paper can provide an insight into the design of GRSSs subjected to seepage forces. •A numeric-based kinematic method is developed to evaluate the required geosynthetic strength for 3D GRSSs.•This work utilizes numerical simulations to obtain the distribution of pore-water pressure.•The presence of seepage forces significantly increases the required geosynthetic strength.