Elasto-plasticity and pore-pressure coupled analysis on the pullout behaviors of a plate anchor

A numerical method is proposed for the elasto-plasticity and pore-pressure coupled analysis on the pullout behaviors of a plate anchor. The bounding-surface plasticity (BSP) model combined with Biot’s consolidation theory is employed to simulate the cyclic loading induced elasto-plastic deformation of the soil skeleton and the accompanying generation/dissipation of the excess pore water pressure. The suction force generated around the anchor due to the cyclic variation of the pore water pressure has much effect on the pullout capacity of the plate anchor. The calculated pullout capacity with the proposed method (i.e., the coupled analysis) gets lower than that with the conventional total stress analysis for the case of long-term sustained loading, but slightly higher for the case of short-term monotonic loading. The cyclic loading induced accumulation of pore water pressure may result in an obvious decrease of the stiffness of the soil-plate anchor system.