Stability analysis of reinforced soil retaining structures using the yield design theory

In the design of earth retaining structures, geotechnical engineers are primarily concerned with the problem of their stability. Unlike most currently used classical methods (such as the well-known "method of slices' for slope stability analyses), the implementation of the yield design approach does not need the introduction of complementary assumptions and results therefore in clearly interpretable estimates for the stability of soil structures. Starting from the presentation of the method on the case of a homogeneous soil structure, it is shown that the method is fully applicable to structures made up of several soil layers exhibiting different weight and strength characteristics. Furthermore, any kind of reinforcement of the structure (nails, tie-backs, geotextiles etc.) can be easily taken into account in the analysis through the so-called "mixed modelling' of the composite reinforced soil. All these recent developments of the initial theory have been put in the concrete form of a computational program, whose efficiency is illustrated on the design of a practical example. -from Authors