Centrifugal Model Tests on Vertical Anchor Plates

Abstract

The stress displacement behavior of vertical anchor plates and continuous anchor walls in dense sand when subjected to horizontal pull‐out forces is presented. Results of a large number of centrifugal tests on 1 in. (25 mm) and 2 in. (50 mm) models subjected to accelerations of up to 40 gravities are presented and the effects of anchor geometry and embedment are examined. Centrifugal test results are compared with those from conventional small model tests thus enabling potential errors in direct extrapolation of the latter to field scale to be evaluated. Considerable overpredictions of pull‐out resistance and under‐estimations of failure displacements are found for 1/20 and 1/40 scale modellings of 19.7 in. (0.5 m) and 39.4 in. (1 m) anchors. The effects of anchor geometry, defined by dimensionless shape factors appear to be sensibly independent of scale. Experimental results are briefly compared with recent theoretical and semiempirical design formulas using shear strengths derived from plane strain compression tests at the appropriate stress levels.