A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999

A full-scale hexagonal wire mesh embankment on Bangkok Clay has been analyzed by the finite element method. The agreement between the finite element results and the field data is quite good. The important simulation consideration for simulating the behavior of reinforced wall embankment were: the step of construction process, the variation of soil permeability during consolidation process and the selection of the appropriate model and properties at the interface between soil and the reinforcement. For the interface between soil and the reinforcement, the direct shear mechanism generally dominate the behavior of hexagonal wire mesh reinforcement. This implied that direct shear mechanism is the appropriate model for simulating the behavior of the hexagonal wire mesh reinforcement on soft ground foundation. For the parametric study, the tensile force on the soft foundation is more than on the stiff foundation. In addition, the tensile force will become higher if the reinforcement stiffness and the friction angle are increased and the reduction factor is decreased. The tensile force in the reinforcements can be adjusted depending on the stiffness of the reinforcement and on the types of the foundation.