Geotechnical Engineering Journal of the SEAGS & AGSSEA ISSN 0046-5828
Vol. 54 No. 4 December 2023
By F. Z. Benamara, C. Kechkar, M. Feligha, M. Bencheikh, and L. Louetri
ABSTRACT: Ideal backfill materials are granular stone, gravel, clean sand with a low percentage of fines. Such material is durable, strong and allows free circulation of water. Due to the depletion of available natural materials, recycled waste will be mixed with sand to form a reinforced fill which can be applied as contiguous fill for retaining walls, mechanically stabilized earth walls and bridge abutments. In this work, a numerical study is carried out by finite elements using PLAXIS 2D software on the Galay quay wall anchored by an anchor plate (sheet pile). In order to study the effect of adding recycled materials on the behavior of the anchored quay wall, three types of backfill based on sand and recycled materials (tire chips, fiberglass, plastic fiber) at different percentages were used as backfill behind the quay wall. The numerical results confirmed that recycled waste is an effective agent for improving the behavior of sandy soils used as backfill behind the anchored quay walls by reducing horizontal displacements and constraints and vertical overall (quay wall – backfill – anchor).
KEYWORDS: Backfill, Recycled materials, Anchor plates, Quay wall, and PLAXIS 2D.
