Performance of horizontal soil hook system in sand

Abstract

Structures like buried pipelines, transmission towers and earth structures subjected to considerable vertical or horizontal pullout forces are usually supported by anchors. The anchors are helical or plate systems which require excavation and grout in their applications. During the last fifty years, many researchers focused on pullout capacity of anchors. Comparison between experimental and theoretical analyses has been performed to validate the ultimate pullout load of anchors. The aim of this research is to obtain breakout factor and ultimate pullout capacity load of Soil Hook System (SHS) and compares it with previous finding by different researchers. SHS is a new anchor system base on the state of the art of plate anchors that does not require grout and excavation in their applications. The experiments were conducted in a chamber box. Two sizes of SHS with the length 297 and 159 mm were used. For the 159 mm long SHS, an embedment ratio between 1 and 7 were employed. For the SHS of length 297mm the embedment ratio used were between 1 to 4. Both SHS were tested in loose and dense sand. Dry sand with unit weight of and were used for loose and dense sand packing respectively. The results of a comprehensive theoretical analysis on the behavior of SHS were presented. These include hook size, ultimate pullout capacity; pull out load, and breakout factor. It was found that the pullout load capacity and breakout of SHS was similar to the works done by the previous researchers in plate anchors. The results show that the failure mechanism pattern around the SHS at shallow and deep levels were similar to the rupture surface pattern from previous researchers. This research has solved the problem of the installation of anchors into sand with SHS without the need to grout or excavate