Experimental Study on Pullout Capacity of Geocell and Geotextile-Reinforced Horizontal Plate Anchors Embedded in Granular Soil

Various types of anchors are used in civil engineering projects to resist uplift forces. A plate anchor is one of the most common anchors which was used for bearing static or cyclic uplift loads. In the current study, a series of small-scale model tests were carried out to consider the response of horizontal plate anchors under pullout load in granular soils. The effects of various factors such as the embedment depth and the diameter of the anchor plate, sand type, slope, and geocell and geotextile reinforcement have been investigated. The results have been investigated based on the uplift load–anchor displacement curves. The results show that the uplift capacity of the anchor plate enhances due to the increase in the diameter and embedment depth. The effect of embedment depth was more important in the geocell and geotextile-reinforced case than the unreinforced case. The results obtained on coarse and fine sands show that the pullout capacity of the anchor plate is a function of the shear strength parameters of the sand and it increases as the friction angle of the sand increases. Besides, the position of the anchor plate relative to the slope has an important influence on the pullout capacity. Furthermore, the results show that the pullout capacity increases significantly with the addition of geocell or geotextile reinforcement either separately or combined.