Evaluation of the combined effect of toe resistance and facing inclination on the behavior of GRS walls

The combined effect of toe resistance and facing inclination on the behavior of GRS walls was considered using the results of two large-scale GRS walls carried out with different facing inclination and toe restraint conditions. The two walls were similar except for the facing inclination. The facing inclination values for Wall 1 and Wall 2 were 6° and 15° to the vertical, respectively. The results show similar values for the toe loads of Walls 1 and 2 at the end of construction, during surcharge load application, and toe release. Furthermore, toe restraint had a greater effect on the reinforcement load mobilization in Wall 2. The results showed that during the surcharge loading, the normalized values for the summation of maximum reinforcement load, ΣTmaxΣTmax, were lower than the corresponding values to the active condition, KaKa. However, at the end of the toe release, the normalized ΣTmaxΣTmax values were close to  Ka Ka. Moreover, at the end of construction and at the beginning of the surcharge load applications, the values of ΣTmaxΣTmax and sum of the connection load, ΣToΣTo, were similar. Nevertheless, during application of the higher values of the surcharge load and the toe release, the values of ΣTmaxΣTmax were greater than  ΣTo ΣTo. The measured values of the reinforcement load were compared with the values predicted by the literature to verify the prediction capabilities of those methods. Some limitations of those design procedures are presented and discussed.