Kerkes, D. J., "Analysis of Equipment Loads on Geocomposite Liner Systems,"
Proceedings of the Geosynthetics '99 Conference, The Industrial Fabrics
Association International (IFAI), Boston, MA, April 1999, pp 1043-1054
The paper is available at not cost from the author's website with permission
of The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI).
ABSTRACT: The loads imposed on geosynthetics during installation are
frequently the most severe that the materials will experience during their
service life; however, they are among the most difficult to evaluate. The
paper examines the loads imposed by track mounted and rubber tired vehicles
spreading soil over the liner system during construction and proposes an
analysis that uses three-dimensional sliding blocks for computing a factor
of safety for the liner system under such loads, which takes into account
the effect of the soil cover between the equipment and potential failure
surface, as well as the effect of tensile forces in components of the liner
above that surface. The limitations of the method are also discussed, and
suggestions are made for using the method in light of the complex
stress-strain behavior of composite liner systems.
The solution algorithm can be executed using standard spreadsheet software,
and an example spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel format can be downloaded at no
cost from the author's website.
It is hoped that the method will be of practical value to practicing
engineers, validated (or invalidated), and improved upon. The author hopes
that the world wide web will become a means of freely disseminating
technical papers, computer models, etc., (with permission of the copyright
holders) to engineers and designers who might otherwise not have knowledge
of or access to the items.
David J. Kerkes, Ph.D., P.E.
Consulting Geotechnical Engineer
Houston, TX, U.S.A.
URL: www.geotechconsultant.com
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