Abstract The deformation performance and settlement failure mechanism of geosynthetics-reinforced soil (GRS) walls are the two key points of engineering design under the differential settlement. This paper presents model tests of deformation performance and failure mechanism of the GRS wall with and without lateral restriction under differential settlement conditions. The observation and measurement results, including force and vertical displacement of geosynthetics and lateral deformation of facing panels, indicate good settlement control performance of GRS wall during construction and under differential settlement. Results indicate that the influence of the stress state of facing panels on the settlement control performance of GRS wall cannot be ignored. And the differential settlement failure of GRS wall is likely to occur in the joint of facing panels and geosynthetics. For good illustrations, two analytical approaches about deformation and stress of geosynthetics were proposed based on elastic cable theory, in GRS wall with and without lateral restriction. The expressions exclude the necessity to carry out sophisticated numerical analyses to stress and deformation and may help to develop the design guidelines for such GRS wall.

中文翻译：

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不同沉降条件下土工合成材料加筋土墙性能试验研究

摘要 土工合成材料加筋土（GRS）墙体的变形性能和沉降破坏机理是差异沉降下工程设计的两个关键点。本文介绍了不同沉降条件下有和无侧向约束的GRS墙的变形性能和破坏机制的模型试验。土工合成材料受力、竖向位移、面板侧向变形等观测和测量结果表明，GRS墙体在施工过程中和不均匀沉降下具有良好的沉降控制性能。结果表明，面板受力状态对GRS墙体沉降控制性能的影响不容忽视。而GRS墙体的不均匀沉降破坏很可能发生在面板与土工合成材料的连接处。为了更好地说明，基于弹性索理论，提出了两种关于土工合成材料变形和应力的分析方法，在有和没有横向限制的 GRS 墙中。这些表达式排除了对应力和变形进行复杂数值分析的必要性，并且可能有助于制定此类 GRS 墙的设计指南。