Failure Mechanism of Anchored Retaining Wall due to the Anchor Head Itself Being Broken

Abstract

In this research, a case history of temporary earth support collapse is first illustrated briefly and the mechanisms of accident occurrences are introduced, with the results showing that the shallow penetration of piles mainly caused the sequences of collapse. In order to understand these failure characteristics and mechanisms, centrifuge model tests using an in-flight excavator were carried out. The failure mechanism of the retaining wall in this labour accident was firstly demonstrated using centrifuge model tests by Toyosawa et al. (1998). In this paper, we added some viewpoints regarding the mechanism of the retaining wall and it was thus clarified that the active and passive earth pressures in the retaining wall increased during excavation and then the anchor head exceeded the capacity with respect to tensile stress. As a result, the retaining wall and ground behind the wall collapsed suddenly.