A study on the failure mechanisms of horizontal plate anchors in clay

Abstract

Elasto-plastic analysis for the pullout capacity of a horizontal plate anchor is studied in this paper using the explicit finite difference method of FLAC. The developed numerical model consists of a rigid concrete plate for the buried anchor, a zero thickness interface for modelling the sliding and separation between the anchor and the Mohr-Coulomb soil. The rigid plate is pulled vertically upwards to induce failure, and the ultimate pullout capacity required for the failure calculated. Numerical results are firstly compared with rigorous upper and lower bound limit analyses, and then computed for a wide variety of parameters such as ratios of anchor depth and overburden pressure. Four distinct mechanisms of failure are identified from all analyses. These failure mechanisms would assist practical engineers to understand the anchor problem better.