Numerical study of load bearing behavior and load sharing mechanism of anchored MSE walls

As key components in the design of anchored MSE walls with constrained reinforced fill zones, anchors and geosynthetic reinforcement have an important influence on the load bearing behavior and deformation characteristics of the wall system. This paper presents a numerical study on the behavior of three wall configurations, including unanchored MSE wall, anchored MSE wall, and anchored wall without geosynthetic reinforcement, to quantitatively assess the influence of anchors and geosynthetic reinforcement and clarify the load sharing mechanism. In this study, a finite-difference model was developed and validated against instrumented reduced-scale unanchored and anchored MSE wall tests. The simulated results were in reasonable agreement with the measurements, including facing displacements and reinforcement tensile strains. The results indicate that the combined restraint provided by anchors and geosynthetic reinforcement is more effective in reducing facing displacement. Settlement response transitions from an anchor-dominated mode at low stress levels to a coupled anchor-reinforcement mode at higher applied vertical stresses. In addition, the inclusion of anchors restrains outward wall movement and reduces lateral stress release behind facing, resulting in greater lateral soil thrust. The load sharing ratio of the anchors decreases slightly with increasing applied vertical stress, whereas the contribution of geosynthetic reinforcement increases progressively.