An Instrumented Geogrid Reinforced Slope in Central Italy: Field Measurements and FEM Analysis Results

A 15 m high green faced reinforced slope was built in 1996 to stabilise a landslide situated on the Montone hill in the province of Perugia (Italy). The reinforced slope was built using locally available soils as fill material and HDPE mono-oriented extruded geogrids as reinforcement. The reinforced slope has been instrumented with strain gages connected to the reinforcing geogrids and with total pressure cells; full scale in situ pull-out tests have been performed as well.

The preliminary results demonstrate the good performance of the geogrids and define possible failure mechanisms for slopes with stepped geometry. The in situ pull-out test results validate laboratory tests performed in the past. To evaluate the field stress and deformation behavior of the reinforced slope a finite element analysis has been carried out. The paper describes the model technique developed to evaluate the field stress and deformation of steep reinforced slope using special interface elements. The results of finite element analysis are in agreement with the field measured results.