Large-Scale Testing and Long-Term Monitoring of Reinforced Earth Abutment – A Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7250/bjrbe.2023-18.588Keywords:
bridge abutment, displacement control, load test, monitoring, reinforced earthAbstract
Standard methods of controlling geotechnical structures are based on testing of individual elements (e.g., piles, anchors, barrettes) or on inventory of their displacements (for instance, current control, i.e., monitoring of retaining structures). It is only the bridgework where, due to uniqueness and importance of structures, the examinations are often run for the whole structures. The main problems are then the following: how to ensure proper repeatability of measurement accuracy (for long-term testing), how to establish optimum criteria of assessing the test results, how to use the results to make possible repair actions and how to interpret the obtained results. Based on an example of test of bridge abutment out of reinforced earth, the paper presents the method of displacement testing, basic criteria of assessing the results, measurement results during static load phase, during dynamic phase and results of long-term measurements. Large number of measurements enables for both evaluation of technical condition of the structure under testing (which was the main goal of the procedures performed) and drawing conclusions referring to the methodology of testing the structure out of reinforced earth as concerns the evaluation criteria adopted.References
A., Dias, D., & Freitag, N. (2010). Numerical analysis of the behaviour of mechanically stabilized earth walls reinforced with different types of strips. Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 29(2), 116–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2010.10.011
Abu-Hejleh, N., Zornberg, J. G., Wang, T., & Watcharamonthein, J. (2002). Monitored displacement of unique geosynthetic-reinforced soil bridge abutment. Geosynthetics International, 9(1), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.1680/gein.9.0211
Benjamim, C. V. S., Bueno, B. S., & Zornberg, J. G. (2005). Comparison between field monitoring and numerical results of a woven geotextile-reinforced soil retaining wall. Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), Osaka, Japan, 1323–1326. https://sites.utexas.edu/zornberg/files/2022/03/Benjamim_Bueno_ Zornberg_2005.pdf
Drusa, M. & Vlček, J. (2016). Importance of results obtained from geotechnical monitoring for evaluation of reinforced soil structure – Case study. Journal of Applied Engineering Sciences, 6(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1515/jaes-2016-0002
Farrag, K., Abu-Farsakh, M., & Morvant, M. (2004). Stress and strain monitoring of reinforced-soil test wall. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1868(1), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.3141/1868-10
Gorska, K., Muszyński, Z., & Rybak, J. (2013). Displacement monitoring and sensitivity analysis in the observational method. Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica, 35(3), 25–43. https://doi.org/10.2478/sgem-2013-0028
Hildebrand, M., & Rybak, J. (2016). Procedure for a test load of retaining structures from the reinforced soil of the WD-32 viaduct over the Central Railway Main Line near the village of Wylezin [Report of Wrocław University of Science and Technology – Department of Civil Engineering, series U, no. 76/2016] (in Polish).
Hildebrand, M., & Rybak, J. (2017). Full scale load test of reinforced soil bridge abutment. Geosyntetika: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference, Žilina, University of Žilina, Slovakia, 98–103.
Kim, Y. J., Jung, H. S., Lee, Y. J., Oh, D. W., Son, M., & Yoon, H. H. (2020). Behaviour analysis of reinforced soil retaining wall according to laboratory scale test. Applied Sciences, 10(3), Article 901. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10030901
Mill, T., Ellmann, A., Kiisa, M., Idnurm, J., Idnurm S., Horemuz, M., & Aavik, A. (2015). Geodetic monitoring of bridge deformations occurring during static load testing. The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering, 10(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.3846/bjrbe.2015.03
Moser, F., Lienhart, W., Woschitz, H. & Schuller, H. (2016). Long-term monitoring of reinforced earth structures using distributed fiber optic sensing. Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, 6, 321–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13349-016-0172-9
Muszyński, Z., & Rybak, J. (2017a). Horizontal displacement control in course of lateral loading of a pile in a slope. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 245(3), Article 032002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/245/3/032002
Muszyński, Z., & Rybak, J. (2017b). Evaluation of terrestrial laser scanner accuracy in the control of hydrotechnical structures. Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica, 39(4), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1515/sgem-2017-0036
Sobala, D., & Rybak, J. (2017). Role to be played by independent geotechnical supervision in the foundation for bridge construction. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 245(2), Article 022073. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/245/2/022073
Wu, J., Ketchart, K., & Adams, M. (2008). Two full-scale loading experiments of geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) abutment wall. International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 2(4), 305–317. https://doi.org/10.3328/IJGE.2008.02.04.305-317
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Maciej Hildebrand
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
