Experimental study on interaction mechanism of small H-beams and a soil-cement retaining wall

Small H-beams such as the No.14–20 I-steel can be inserted into soil-cement retaining walls to form small H-beam soil-cement compound walls, functioning both as a retaining wall and a cutoff wall for braced structure excavations. Being different from the mixed soil-cement wall (SMW), the interaction between soil-cement and small H-steel is very good. We have carried out a series of bending experiments on small H-beams in soil-cement model compound beams to study the mechanism of interactions. The results show that the interaction between H-beams and soil-cement is very good, whether the H-beam is single or double. Joint forms of double H-beams at one end have little effect on both the contribution coefficient and on ultimate deflection before cracking. But after cracking, the joint forms greatly affect the contribution coefficient. We conclude that the rigid joint girder for double H-beams is a better choice in practice.