The stability of inclined plate anchors in purely cohesive soil

Abstract

Soil anchors are commonly used as foundation systems for structures requiring uplift resistance such as transmission towers, or for structures requiring lateral resistance, such as sheet pile walls. To date the design of these anchors has been largely based on empiricism. This paper applies numerical limit analysis and displacement finite element analysis to evaluate the stability of inclined strip anchors in undrained clay. Results are presented in the familiar form of break-out factors based on various anchor geometries. By obtaining both upper and lower bound limit analysis estimates of the pullout capacity, the true pullout resistance can be bracketed from above and below. In addition, the displacement finite element solutions provide an opportunity to validate these findings thus providing a rigorous evaluation of anchor capacity.