Deformation behaviour of rigid faced GRS walls in numerical simulation with bonded and frictional soil-reinforcement interfaces

The response predictions for the Rigid Faced (RF) Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) wall depend significantly on the considered modelling approach for soil-reinforcement interfaces. Bonded soil-reinforcement modelling is an inadequate approach in many situations like high walls. The selection of interface shear stiffness for frictional contacts is critical under working stress conditions to estimate displacements precisely. Finite Element analysis of RF-GRS wall has been conducted for frictional and bonded interfaces. The results at the end of construction show that the bonded soil-reinforcement interface underpredicts the total fascia displacements and external displacements of the RF-GRS wall compared to the frictional interface. The effect is 2–6 times in a 6 m high wall and 1.5–3 times in a 3 m high wall. The surface settlement of the wall with bonded soil-reinforcement interface is 2–3 times less than the frictional interface. The bonded interfaces produce local stress concentrations at the end of reinforcements.