MODELING OF LATERALLY SUPPORTED EMBEDDED STRUCTURES

 At lateral load-displacement response of embedded structures, the subgrade reaction method is most extensively used because the nonlinearity of soil and variation of subgrade reaction with depth can be considered relatively easily. In this method, the laterally loaded embedded structure is idealized as a beam on an elastic foundation loaded transversely and restrained by independent elastic springs acting along the length of the beam. The actual subgrade reaction distribution and the structure displacements are not dependent only on the soil stiffness but are rather a result of the mutual relationship between the structural element stiffness and the soil stiffness. A simplified distribution of springs and its stiffness coefficients is presented in this study. Through decoupling the embedded structure deformations into rigid body movement and bending deformation, the subgrade reaction modulus is estimated depending on experimental data of rigid wall movement and its accompanier ultimate passive earth pressure from literatures. The produced structural analysis results using the developed model are in a good agreement comparing with the analytical and numerical results. In addition, a parametric study is carried out, which shows that the effect of structure stiffness is more significant than the soil stiffness and with regarding the economical design is fulfilled by using flexible structural elements than the rigid one when the displacement limits is regarded.