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Modelling of the mechanical interaction between

anchored wire meshes and granular soils

Claudio Giulio di Prisco , Fulvio Besseghini & Federico Pisanò

To cite this article: Claudio Giulio di Prisco , Fulvio Besseghini & Federico Pisanò (2010)
Modelling of the mechanical interaction between anchored wire meshes and granular
soils, Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal, 5:3, 137-152, DOI:
10.1080/17486020903576218

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17486020903576218

Published online: 31 Aug 2010.

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Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal
Vol. 5, No. 3, September 2010, 137–152

Modelling of the mechanical interaction between anchored wire meshes

and granular soils
Claudio Giulio di Priscoa,*, Fulvio Besseghinib and Federico Pisanòa
a
Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32–20133 Milano, Italy; bLombardi SA Engineering Limited, via R. Simen,
19 6648 Minusio (TI), Switzerland

(Received 4 April 2009; final form 15 December 2009)

In this paper a theoretical and numerical analysis of the mechanical interaction between an anchored deformable facing structure and the underlying
granular soil is presented. The reinforcement system is mainly composed of wire meshes, geosynthetics, bars/ties, and spike steel plates. This is usually
employed for stabilising potentially unstable slopes. The punching process that can occur locally is described by considering the complex interaction
mechanisms arising among the different system elements and the soil. For the sake of simplicity, the soil stratum and the anchor are assumed to be
horizontal and vertical, respectively. A simplified displacement-based approach is introduced with the main goal of evaluating both the maximum
force that can be applied on the anchor and the correlated penetration of the spike plate within the soil. The approach is validated by means of
experimental laboratory test results already available in the literature. Finally, in order to stress the role of the spike plates’ spacing and the soil stiffness
in influencing the mechanical response of the system, the numerical results of parametric analyses are discussed.

Keywords: wire meshes; deformable retaining structures; numerical modelling; punching tests

1. Introduction post-tensioned just after the system installation, the active

Steel wire meshes for intercepting blocks falling from steep
rock faces have often been employed in Alpine regions since
the beginning of the twentieth century, but only in the last
decades has the use of meshes for stabilising soil masses
along slopes become quite common in European mountain
regions. This success is mainly due to two technological fac-
tors: (i) their installation is quite rapid and economical because
the system is prefabricated and only the boring for the insertion
of bars/ties is time demanding, and (ii) the elements can be put
in place even if the slope profile is not perfectly planar.
Nowadays, this technique is largely employed when slope
profiles are cut for realising infrastructures like roads along
potentially unstable slopes (Bergado et al. 2000, Bergado and
Teerawattanasuk 2008). As will be described in detail in the
following sections, these types of reinforcement systems are
usually characterised by (i) a wire mesh, (ii) a geo-reinforce-
ment, (iii) a rhomboidal small steel plate, and (iv) steel nails
inserted within the soil with the function of anchoring the mesh
to deep stable strata of soils or rocks.
If large soil movements are permitted, the system behaves as
a passive anchoring: the wire mesh essentially intercepts the
soil at the toe of the failure mechanism and bars/ties transmit a
direct stabilising action to the soil thanks to their mechanical
bending/shear stiffness. In contrast, when the anchors are
*Corresponding author. Email: cdiprisc@stru.polimi.it
loading essentially causes an increase in normal stresses acting
on the potential sliding plane, which is in turn associated with
an increase in mobilised shear stresses and thus in the slope
safety factor. This result is obtained if and only if bars/ties are
anchored within an underlying stable soil/rock stratum. This is
also economically convenient when the total length of bars/ties
is acceptable, that is, when the potentially unstable soil stratum
thickness is not too large.
In the design of this type of system, comprehension of the
superficial interaction mechanisms among the several elements
is crucial; all the same, the application of post-tension loading
to the bars/ties is usually recommended by the producer on the
basis of basic empirical results. In the following, a simplified
approach will be introduced for reproducing the relationship
between the post-tensioning axial force and the spike plate
settlement and, at the same time, for evaluating the tension
acting within the mesh.
After a brief description of the reinforcement system, the
paper focuses essentially on the simulation of some experimen-
tal data already available in the literature. This was obtained in
the laboratory by performing a series of punching tests on a
cylinder filled with a granular material. Despite the simplified
geometry used, these data and relative simulations can be
fruitfully employed by engineers for capturing the main aspects
of the mechanical response of the system, even when this is
used in situ on real slopes.

ISSN 1748-6025 print=ISSN 1748-6033 online

# 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080=17486020903576218
http:==www.informaworld.com
138 C.G. di Prisco et al.

2. The reinforcement system

As illustrated in Figure 1a, where the soil stratum thickness is

assumed to be constant and bars are positioned orthogonally to
the sliding plane, the reinforcement system considered here is
mainly composed of six parts:

(1) The anchoring steel bars/ties, with a diameter FB of about

30 mm.

Figure 1. (Continued)

(2) The steel wire mesh (Figure 1b–d) covering the slope (all
local roughness is hereafter disregarded but in day-to-day
operation it often plays a crucial role).
(3) The geo-reinforcement layer (Figure 1c). This element
has the role of preventing the indentation of the mesh
wires in the soil.
(4) The steel spike plate and the nut that is locked when bars/
ties are post-tensioned (Figure 1c). Standard plates are
rhomboidal and have a circular hole for the insertion of
the bar. The spacing among the spike plates is an impor-
tant design parameter (Figure 2a). In this figure, Sx
denotes spacing along the slope while Sy denotes spacing
along the orthogonal direction.
(5) The deep anchoring bulb obtained by grouting. Very often
bars grouted along their entire length are employed by end
users. In this case, axial stresses, even within the poten-
tially unstable mass, may arise during the post-tensioning
of bars. This causes a reduction in the normal stresses
acting on the potential sliding plane.
(6) The bio-grids that are used together with hydro-seeding to
establish the re-vegetation of the slope. In Figure 1d the
dashed line marks the zone where these bio-grids were
used to prevent superficial erosion.

As in Flum and Rüegger (2000, 2001), the stabilising effect due

to such an active anchoring system is calculated by employing a
standard limit equilibrium method and thanks to the following
simplifying hypotheses:

(1) Actions due to the post-tensioning of bars/ties do not

Figure 1. The soil reinforcement system: (a) schematic global view, (b) wire
mesh (after Geobrugg internal reports), (c) geo-reinforcements and steel
anchoring plate, (d) the re-vegetated slope.
decrease over time; that is, creep effects are assumed to
be negligible. (This assumption is often unacceptable
because of the time-dependent mechanical behaviour of
geomaterials, and an attentive structural monitoring is
therefore recommended).
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal 139

Figure 3. The superficial anchoring system: (a) schematic view, (b) forces
acting on the spike plate, (c) additional external confinement provided by the
mesh.

(2) The spike plate is rigid.

(3) Forces transmitted by bars through the soil mass act unal-
tered on the potential sliding plane (Figure 3b).

For a homogeneous inclined soil stratum, the safety factor can be

Figure 2. The role of bar spacing: (a) positioning of spike plates, (b) the evaluated by imposing the following standard balance momen-
potentially unstable three-dimensional block. tum for the elementary volume represented in Figure 2b:
140 C.G. di Prisco et al.

 Þ tan F0I þ c Sx Sy
ðW cos a þ N where t(l) is the tensile force per unit length acting along the
Fs ¼ plate perimeter within the mesh (Figure 3b), l is the curvilinear
W sin a
tan F0I  tan F0I
N c coordinate describing the plate perimeter Ss, b(l) is the inclina-
¼ þ þ ð1Þ tion angle of the mesh wires in the proximity of the spike plate,
tan a Sx Sy H sin a H sin a
and p(x,y) is the confining load per unit area that the mesh
where W ¼ Sx Sy H is the block weight, H is the thickness of transmits directly to the soil along the vertical direction.
the potentially unstable stratum,  is the bulk unit weight, N  is Distributed load p(x,y) arises from the interaction between the
the axial force acting within bars, a is the slope inclination, c is mesh wires and the underlying geosynthetic layer: the evalua-
the soil cohesion, and F0I denotes the interface friction angle tion of p(x,y) would require the estimation of the local distrib-
between the soil and the underlying rock stratum. If sliding uted load on the interface between the wire and the geosynthetic
occurs within the soil mass, F0I coincides with the soil internal and to average it over a representative area. For the sake of
friction angle F0s . Seepage along the slope can be also clarity, force N can be conveniently split into two contributions:
accounted for by adding a seepage force employing the effec-
Nðv0 Þ ¼ N  ðv0 Þ þ N co ðv0 Þ ð4Þ
tive stress principle and substituting the buoyant unit weight in
Equation (1). where N  ðv0 Þ describes the load-settlement curve for the plate
A suitable safety factor can be achieved either by decreasing when the wire mesh is absent, while N co ðv0 Þ describes the
the spacing among the anchors or increasing the N  value (Flum influence of the external confinement provided by the mesh
and Rüegger 2000, 2001). In Equation (1) the post-tensioning (Figure 3c) on the punching response of the plate. Term N  ðv0 Þ
load is assumed to be applied orthogonally to the slope. in Equation (4) can be experimentally estimated by performing
tests on spike plates without mesh. This does not coincide with
the load-settlement curve of the spike plate itself because of the
presence of the bars/ties (Figure 3a), which introduces an addi-
3. Interpretative mechanical scheme of the reinforcement tional kinematic constraint.
device

The interaction mechanism between the reinforcement system 4. Experimental test results
and the soil stratum is in general influenced by the inclination of
the plane along which the interaction takes place. Nevertheless,
Before describing the approach proposed and in order to
the experimental data that will be numerically simulated in the
clarify the definitions previously introduced, in this section
following concern the case a ¼ 0 , and the mechanical scheme
some experimental punching test results obtained at Lands
outlined hereafter will be restricted to this condition. For this
gewerbeanstaldt (LGA) of Nurmberg (Geobrugg 2006) are
geometry, the balance equilibrium of forces along the vertical
briefly summarised. These concern an experimental test cam-
direction coincides with the balance of forces along the bar axis,
paign financially supported by Geobrugg, performed on the
since in the transversal/horizontal plane the forces acting on the
Tecco mesh. Geometrical and mechanical parameters of
steel plate are either nil or self-balanced.
 requires the modelling of the interaction Tecco are collected in Table 1.
The evaluation of N
The wire mesh was subjected to a series of one-dimensional
mechanisms among bars, spike plate, wire mesh, and geotextile
tensile tests along the two principal orthogonal directions. Its
(Figure 3a). The objective of this analysis consists in evaluating
 as a function of the spike plate settlement v0. As is schema- mechanical behaviour has been observed to be anisotropic.
N
tically illustrated in Figure 3b, three forces are applied on the
plate: (i) the already defined action N acting within the bar, (ii)
action N, the resultant force of normal stresses that soil exerts Table 1. Tecco system characteristics (after Geobrugg 2006)
directly on the spike plate, and (iii) TN, the force transmitted to
High performance steel wires
the plate by the mesh (Figure 3b). The balance of momentum
written for the spike plate therefore becomes: Diameter [mm] 3
Steel tensile strength [MPa] 1770
 0 Þ ¼ TN ðv0 Þ þ Nðv0 Þ;
Nðv ð2Þ Rhomboidal shaped wire mesh
Minimum dimension [mm] 83
Maximum dimension [mm] 143
whilst the balance equation along the vertical direction written Longitudinal tensile strength [kN/m] 150
with reference to the wire mesh allows the calculation of TN as Longitudinal tensile stiffness [MN/m] 3
follows: Transversal tensile strength [kN/m] 60
Transversal tensile stiffness [MN/m] 1
ð Sðx Sðy Spike plate
Diameter [mm] 220
TN ðv0 Þ ¼ tðl; v0 Þ sin bðl; v0 Þdl ¼ pðx; y; v0 Þdxdy ð3Þ Thickness [mm] 10
Hole diameter [mm] 36
ss 0 0
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal 141

Subsequently, at LGA of Nurmberg two punching load con-

trolled test series were performed by means of the test device
illustrated in Figure 4a. The experimental setup comprises a
cylindrical caisson filled with a compacted dry granular soil
(Figure 4a), a rigid square frame, and a hollow vertical piston.
Axially symmetric boundary conditions have been imposed,
since the wire mesh fixed to the square frame also rests on a
circular caisson (Figure 4a). The device is designed to allow the
direct transmission of the pressure imposed by the piston to the
steel plate. In these tests, the standard rhomboidal spike plate
(Figure 1c) was substituted by a circular plate of equivalent area
(Figure 4b). The granular soil was compacted in order to obtain
a medium relative density. Large displacements were imposed
(up to a ratio of approximately v0 =FP ¼ 1, where FP stands for
the plate diameter). Three different wire meshes were tested. In
Figure 5, load-settlement curves obtained by testing three dif-
ferent types of mesh (b, c, and d) are compared with that relative
to the same plate tested without any mesh: by increasing the Figure 5. Schematic summary of experimental punching test results (after
stiffness/strength of the wire, the overall mechanical response Geobrugg 2006).
improves. This figure also suggests that the range of variability
of the experimental data (shaded bands) is essentially due to the
large displacements imposed on the plate. 5. Mechanical modelling and simplifying hypotheses

The modelling approach proposed hereafter has been conceived

to reproduce the experimental curves illustrated in Figure 5.
This objective will be reached by introducing the simplifying
hypotheses summarised below:

(1) The steel plate is rigid and its strength is infinite.

(2) The wire mesh behaves essentially like a membrane.
(3) The geometry is axisymmetric; that is, both plate and
mesh are assumed to be circular and the constraints
applied to the mesh are axisymmetric, too.

5.1 The spike plate: evaluation of N  ðv0 Þ

The main objective of this research consists in quantifying the

influence of the wire mesh on the mechanical response of the
plate and in particular in estimating the maximum value of N. 
For this reason, curve (a) of Figure 5 has been employed like an
input datum. This has been simply interpolated by using the
well known relationship introduced by Butterfield (1980) for
shallow foundations placed on homogeneous granular soil
strata:
 
N R v
 N0 0
 ¼1e ð5Þ
M
NM

where NM is the footing bearing capacity and R0 is the curve’s
initial stiffness. In the case considered here the calibrated

values of both NM and R0 are not standard because of the
following three factors:

 The small dimensions of the spike plate and the grain size
Figure 4. Testing device: (a) cylindrical caisson and square rigid frame, (b)
circular spike plate employed in laboratory experimental tests (after Geobrugg distribution of the soil under the footing.
2006).  The presence of the bar under the footing.
142
 The large values of displacements imposed on the spike
plate. In these conditions second order effects can become
dominant; that is, the stabilising effect due to the external
surcharge can induce a severe increase in the footing bear-
ing capacity. In fact, when large displacements are
imposed, the footing continuously penetrates within the
soil and the soil around the plate exerts a sort of added
confinement to the foundation, causing a further increase
in the plate bearing capacity. This effect is markedly evi-
dent for loose sands but can be appreciated even when sands
of medium relative density are tested.
All the cited factors may dramatically influence the mechanical
response of the system. As stressed in the past in experiments
by many authors (Berry 1935, De Beer 1975, Yamaguchi et al.
1976, Kutter et al. 1988, Cerato and Lutenegger 2003), the
dependency of NM on plate dimensions (Tatsuoka et al. 1991)
is fundamentally due both to the dependency of the mechanical
response of granular materials on the confining pressure and to
the ‘‘particle size effect’’ that is described by the ratio between
the footing characteristic dimension and D50 (the medium soil
grain diameter). The quantitative effect on the foundation bear-
ing capacity becomes dramatic when dense granular soils are
concerned. The second factor can severely affect bearing capa-
city, because the presence of bars can be interpreted as a kine-
matic constraint. This essentially causes the occurrence of a Hill
type failure mechanism (characterised by two blocks under the
plate shifting downward and horizontally at the same time)
instead of a Prandtl one. As observed many years ago by Chen
(1975), who obtained these results by employing the static limit
analysis approach, this marked increase in the bearing capacity
value (which can double) depends on both the plate roughness
and the soil internal friction angle. These observations
become more appropriate because of the spike plate employed
(Figure 4b). The presence of steel hooks under the plate designed
to fix the mesh are likely to severely influence the bearing
capacity of the plate itself.
Figure 6. Schematic view of the rhomboidal unit cell composing the wire mesh.
C.G. di Prisco et al.
As a consequence, in order to capture the value of NM* from a
quantitative point of view, it is necessary to experimentally
evaluate it in situ by using a standard plate device (with a radius
approximately equal to the representative width of the steel
plate of the anchoring system). The experimentally measured
bearing capacity of the plate without the bar should be ampli-
fied by means of a factor to take into consideration the actual
geometry. The same observations apply to the evaluation of R0,
which defines the initial stiffness of the curve.
5.2 The wire mesh: evaluation of T N ðv0 Þ
Because of their structure, wire meshes behave like two-dimen-
sional membranes: they are characterised by large values of
both tensile stiffness and strength and by a negligible flexural
stiffness, as rotation at points P of Figure 6 is permitted. Their
mechanical characterisation is usually given by the producer.
Generally two tensile characteristics are provided along the two
principal directions.
In the case considered here, the presence of the wire mesh has
two beneficial effects: the first, defined as ‘‘direct’’, is linked to
its membranal mechanical response, causing the exertion of
force TN ðv0 Þ of Equation (2), whereas the second is ‘‘indirect’’
and is associated with the normal stresses transmitted by the
wire mesh to the soil (distributed load p(x,y,v0) in Figure 3c and
Equation (3)). Due to the geometry of the experimental setup, it
is convenient to employ a polar frame of reference (Figure 7) in
which r and  are the radial and circumferential coordinates,
respectively.
To evaluate p(r,,v0) and TN ðv0 Þ, a method based on the four
assumptions listed below has been developed:
(1) The wire mesh and the underlying geosynthetic are inter-
preted as a unique fictitious membrane.
(2) The interaction between the aforementioned fictitious
membrane and the underlying soil is described by means
of contact springs (Figure 8c, d). Their calibration is one
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal
Figure 7. Idealised geometry for numerical computations.
of the most crucial steps of the method. For the sake of
clarity, in Figure 8c only vertical contact springs are
represented schematically.
(3) Soil displacements are assumed to be known along radius
r for any value of the vertical spike plate displacement v0.
(4) The wire mesh behaves like a membrane with a nil
Poisson ratio. This implies that in a polar frame of refer-
ence tensile stresses along radius r are dominant whilst
tensile stresses along  are negligible. Each radial sector
can be assumed to work independently and in parallel.
Each radial sector of the fictitious membrane can there-
fore be discretised by means of a finite number of one-
dimensional truss elements characterised, as will be
précised below, by a dimension strictly linked to the
geometry of the rhomboidal unit cell of the wire mesh.
The problem of the interaction between the fictitious
membrane and the underlying soil is solved by employing
a large displacement theoretical/numerical formulation
accounting for the update of the spatial configuration.
According to the previously introduced hypotheses, the global
mechanical response of the fictitious membrane can be
obtained by assuming that each sector works in parallel. The
mechanical response of each radial sector is numerically simu-
lated by handling a one-dimensional problem in which the
unknowns are the vertical and horizontal displacements v(r)
and u(r), respectively, of the structure (Figure 8b), whereas
v ðr Þ and u ðr Þ, the vertical and radial components of the
displacement vector of the soil, are imposed.
In particular, for the sake of simplicity u ðr Þ is assumed to be
nil whatever r is, whilst in order to assign a meaningful spatial
distribution to the vertical displacement v ðr Þ we decided to
employ the standard elastic solution for isotropic and homo-
geneous media. In zone OS of Figure 8b, v* is assumed to equal
v0, whilst for r > FP =2 the trend v* is assumed to coincide with
that calculated by Foster and Azhlvin (1954, Poulos and Davis
143
1974), although these authors refer to a deformable circular
shallow footing loaded by a constant vertical stress. The nor-
malised vertical deflection factor provided by Foster and
Azhlvin (1954) is listed alongside depth for discrete values of
the radial coordinate r. In Figure 9 both the normalised vertical
displacement v =v0 (evaluated using Foster and Azhlvin’s aba-
cus) and the expression of the fitting shape function
F ½r=ðFP =2Þ are plotted. This latter is used to describe the
vertical displacement v* of the lower boundary of the vertical
contact spring, and its symbolic expression is reported here:
v ¼ v0 for r  FP =2
ð6Þ
v ½r=ðFP =2Þ ¼ F ½r=ðFP =2Þ  v0 for r > FP =2
Numerically, the loading process is simulated by imposing on
the mesh zone OS a rigid downward shifting, that is,
v_ ¼ v_  ¼ v_ 0 . This constraint is obtained by attributing an infi-
nite axial stiffness to vertical springs within zone OS.
Each spring in Figure 8c is characterised by the following
constitutive relationship:
    
FV k 0 v  v
¼ v ð7Þ
FH 0 ku u  u  ðu  u ÞPL
where FV and FH denote vertical and radial forces transmitted
by the contact springs to the wire mesh at the nodes of
Figure 8c, kv and ku are the vertical and horizontal elastic
stiffness, respectively, and ðu  u ÞPL is the plastic horizontal
relative displacement which can accumulate due to the pre-
sence of horizontal sliders (Figure 8d). Since the plastic slider
yield criterion is frictional, a coupling between vertical and
horizontal relative displacements is implicit in Equation (7).
The evaluation of kv is strictly linked to the diameters of the
wires, the opening angle of the rhomboidal mesh, and the
presence of geo-reinforcements under the wire mesh. An exam-
ple of calibration will be presented in the following section of
this paper. In the radial direction, the contact springs are
144
Figure 8. Schematic drawing of (a) the wire mesh in the undeformed configuration, (b) the wire mesh in the deformed configuration, (c) normal contact springs, (d) a
tangential elasto-plastic contact spring.
elasto-plastic (Figure 8d); that is, plastic sliders are placed in
series with the tangential elastic springs, so frictional sliding
between soil and geotextile is taken into account. A
Mohr–Coulomb type failure criterion is introduced for describing
the sliding condition. In spite of the geotextile interposition, an
indentation mechanism occurs at the wire scale and as a conse-
quence sliding is assumed to take place essentially within the soil.
Each sector is characterised by an opening angle 
(Figure 7) and is subdivided along r into a finite number of
C.G. di Prisco et al.
constant length truss elements. As a consequence, a linearly
varying contact area with the soil corresponds to each truss
element. This implies that kh and kv will vary with r, too. The
steel mechanical response is assumed to be elasto-perfectly
plastic, so that the development of yielding within the trusses
is taken into account. By numerically solving the displace-
ment controlled problem described above, it is therefore pos-
sible to evaluate p(r,v0) and TN ðv0 Þ (this latter according to
Equation (3)).
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal 145

6. Constitutive parameter calibration

In order to clarify the method previously outlined, in the fol-

lowing section the experimental curve (d) of Figure 5 is con-
sidered and numerically simulated. This example will allow us
to illustrate how the constitutive parameters already introduced
can be practically evaluated and how the different terms of
Equation (2) can be calculated.

6.1 Steel plate without wire mesh

At this first step, Butterfield’s relationship (Equation (5)) is

calibrated on curve (a) of Figure 5; that is, parameters R0

[kN/m] and NM [kN] are estimated. The calibrated constitutive
parameters are collected in Table 2, while in Figure 10 the
experimental curve is compared with the interpolating one.

6.2 The wire mesh

Figure 9. Shape function of the elastic settlements around the plate: Foster and
Azhlvin values and numerical fitting. The test results concerning the mechanical response of the steel
plate were also employed in calibrating the stiffness of the
5.3 The spike plate: evaluation of Nðv0 Þ vertical contact springs. This issue is crucial since the diameter
Fw of wires is very small and not very different from the grain
To evaluate N ðv0 Þ, Butterfield’s empirical relationship (1980) size. This implies that the Continuum Mechanics approach is
has again been employed. The initial plate stiffness R0 is hardly suitable for interpreting the reality. The presence of the
assumed to be unaffected by the presence of the wire mesh
and to coincide with that empirically evaluated on the experi- Table 2. Calibrated constitutive parameters: (a) spike plate, (b) soil stratum
mental curve (a) of Figure 5. In contrast, the bearing capacity
NM is assumed to be severely influenced by the external load (a) Spike plate (b) Soil
transmitted to the soil by the wire mesh, in particular
  FP [m] R0 [kN / m] NM [kN] kv [MN / m3] v [–] F0s [ ]  [ ]
NM ¼ NM þ NM , where NM is the bearing capacity of the
spike plate when the wire mesh is not employed and NM 0.22 1100 80 19.2 0.25 40 40
stands for the increment in bearing capacity associated with
the mesh confinement, that is, the maximum value of N co ðv0 Þ. If
we define pðrÞ as the limit value for loading p(r,v0) when the
wire mesh yields, the increase in the bearing capacity (NM)
can be computed as follows:
Ð
pðr; Þdrd

NM Ac TN
¼ Nq ¼ Nq ð8Þ
Ap Ac Ac

where  stands for the circumferential coordinate, Nq is the

Brinch-Hansen coefficient (1961) associated with the surcharge
around the footing, Ap is the spike plate area and Ac is the
circular area of soil covered by the wire mesh inscribed within
the dashed line of Figure 7 (for the experimental tests simulated
in the following this coincides with the caisson cross section),
and TN is the ultimate value of TN.
Therefore, when wire mesh is present, Equation (8) becomes:
 
R0 v 0
Nðv0 Þ N  þN
¼1e M M ð9Þ
NM þ NM
Figure 10. The steel plate’s mechanical response with no wire mesh:
and the second term on the right of Equation (2) can be numeri- comparison between experimental results and numerical interpolation by the
cally computed. Butterfield formula.
146 C.G. di Prisco et al.

geotextile interposed between mesh and soil prevents the occur- by an opening angle of 90 . Two distinct numerical calculations
rence of wire indentation within the soil but the mechanical were performed, the first concerning Sector A, that is the sector
stiffness of the micro-interaction remains the most difficult pro- characterised by both the maximum value of the resistant area
blem to be solved. and stiffness, the second concerning Sector B.
To evaluate a meaningful value for the contact spring stiff- To reproduce the experimentally imposed boundary condi-
ness, the following empirical method has been used: (i) the tions, numerical simulations were performed by preventing
secant value of the standard subgrade reaction modulus kv at both vertical and horizontal displacements of the mesh on the

50% of the ultimate load NM (Bowles 1991) from the experimental external circular support.
curve (a) of Figure 5 has been evaluated (kv ¼ 19:2 MN/m3); The truss length L was imposed to coincide with the unit cell
(ii) by keeping in mind that the real contact area is essentially a length of the mesh: 143 mm for Sector A and 83 mm for Sector B.
function of the wire diameter and, as is schematically sketched The numerical procedure is incremental because of non-
in Figure 8c, elasto-plastic springs are assumed to be lumped at linearities associated with large displacements; yielding in the
the truss nodes, kv and ku in Equation (7) are estimated as wire mesh and plastic displacements at the interface sliders are
follows: expected. Step by step the already available numerical code
 (Cocchetti et al. 2004, Galli 2005) updates the spatially
kv ¼ kv LnFw deformed configuration of the system and imposes balance
ð10Þ
kh ¼ 2ð1  u2 Þkv equations again. The spatial configuration is updated but the
frame of reference is kept unaltered.
where L is the radial width of the single truss composing the
radial sector and n is the number of wires intersected by the
cross segment orthogonal to the radial axis increasing linearly
with r. In order to stress how the choice of subgrade moduli 7. Numerical model validation
influences the mechanical response of the system, the result of a
sensitivity analysis will be shown in the following. Once constitutive parameters have been assigned by employing
To characterise the interface sliding mechanism between the numerical code outlined above, the response of the wire
mesh/geotextile and soil, a  interface friction angle is assigned. mesh to the punching test can be simulated. In Figure 11 the
The numerical results illustrated hereafter were obtained by numerical results concerning Sector A are illustrated first. At
imposing  ¼ F0s ; however, numerical results were observed the end of the test, when yielding of wires takes place, the wire
not to be strongly influenced by parameter . mesh penetrates within the soil (Figure 11a), relative horizontal
As stressed above, each of the sectors into which the wire displacements are negligible, and the mesh is loaded by an
mesh is subdivided is characterised by a cross section width B approximately constant value of tensile action Tj (Figure 11b).
varying with r. The equivalent membrane cross section area Aem;i In Figure 12a the progressive evolution of the deformed mesh at
is assigned to each finite ith element and is computed as the successive time steps is illustrated, while in Figure 12b the
equivalent membrane cross section area per unit transversal
width Aem multiplied by B (which evolves with r). Differently,
the material strength ss and the equivalent elastic stiffness Eme
vary with the  angle (because of the mesh anisotropy), but are
constant with r. Then, Aem , ss, and Eme have been evaluated by
starting from the mechanical characteristics of the mesh per unit
length provided by Geobrugg: AemA , AemB (equivalent areas per
unit length in the two principal directions) have been obtained by
summing cross section areas of single wires per metre of width
(Figure 6). Steel tensile strength is denoted by ss. If AemA /AemB is
multiplied by ss along the two principal directions, the real wire
mesh tensile strength per unit width is found.
In contrast, since the mesh stiffness is strictly related to the
mesh geometry, Eme is calculated along the two principal direc-
tions according to the following relationship:

KmA=B
Eme A=B ¼ ; ð11Þ
AmA=B

where KmA=B [MN/m] is the stiffness measured experimentally

during tensile tests on the mesh along the two principal direc-
tions (Table 1). Figure 11. Numerical results concerning Sector A of Figure 7 at the last
Once all constitutive parameters had been estimated, the numerical step: (a) soil and wire mesh vertical displacements, (b) tension
domain was subdivided into four sectors, each characterised within the wire mesh.
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal
evolution of Tj at point S of Figure 8b versus the vertical
displacement of plate v0 is plotted. Analogous results were
obtained for Sector B but for the sake of brevity are not reported
here.
By projecting tensile forces Tj ðr ¼ FP =2Þ along the vertical
direction and by summing the contributions of all sectors TNj,
we obtain the global direct contribution of the wire mesh TN,
which is plotted in Figure 13a:
P
4 P
4 Term NM is then computed from Equation (8), and function
TN ¼ TNj ¼ Tj ðr ¼ FP =2Þ  cos bj
j¼1 j¼1
where bj, denoting the inclination of forces Tj, are numerically
evaluated along the external profile of the circular steel plate
and depend on v0. In this case, since  ¼ 90 , the overall TN
value is calculated by summing 2TNA and 2TNB, which are
plotted against v0 in Figure 13a. Comparison of Figure 12b
with Figure 13a allows us to state that:
(1) When yielding occurs at the most stressed point (point S
of Figure 8b) of Sector A, the value of Tj reaches a plateau
(Figure 12b). Nevertheless, since the wire mesh continues
to deform and b continues to increase, the vertical com-
ponent continues to evolve.
Figure 12. Numerical results (Sector A): (a) vertical displacements of wire
mesh at increasing values of v0 and (b) maximum tensile action within the mesh
versus v0.
147
(2) If the number of sectors partitioning the wire mesh was
larger, the knee of curve TN – v0 of Figure 13a would be
less marked.
In Figure 13b, c, and d, the influence of the kv value on the
evolution of 2TNA, 2TNB, and TN is illustrated. Even if the kv
parameter has been varied by two orders of magnitude, the
ultimate value of TN, which is the most important design vari-
able, does not change abruptly.
ð12Þ
N ðv0 Þ is defined using Equation (9). Once both functions N ðv0 Þ
and N  ðv0 Þ are known, the contribution N co ðv0 Þ of Equation (4)
is also a posteriori calculated. The computed trends of N  ðv0 Þ,
N co ðv0 Þ, and N ðv0 Þ are therefore plotted in Figure 14.
By adding the two contributions TN ðv0 Þ and N ðv0 Þ (concern-
ing the mesh and spike plates, respectively), as indicated in
Equation (2), function N  ðv0 Þ is obtained. In Figure 15 the
numerical curves and experimental test data are compared.
The agreement is satisfactory in spite of the large number of
simplifying hypotheses introduced. In this figure shaded zones
describe the experimental data dispersion, whilst solid/dashed
lines indicate numerical simulations.
The wire mesh contribution is negligible at the beginning of
the test because of its membranal mechanical behaviour (when
vertical displacements are small, membranes cannot work),
whereas its contribution increases markedly during the test.
The failure of the system occurs only after the mesh yielding,
and takes place in the spike plate proximity.
8. Parametric analyses
In this paragraph the dependency of the mechanical response of
the system on spike plate spacing (varying from 1 to 4 m) for two
different subgrade materials, (a) a very loose sand and (b) a
compacted granular soil, is taken into account. Even in these
parametric analyses the soil stratum is assumed to be horizontal.
Even in this case the problem is assumed to be axisymmetric,
and on the external boundary (circular dashed line of Figure 2a)
only vertical displacements are allowed.
To perform this parametric analysis, wire mesh characteris-
tics were kept constant (Table 3), whereas parameters concern-
ing both spike plate and soil were varied. In Tables 4 and 5, the
constitutive parameters employed for both the cases, loose and
dense sand strata, are listed: in particular subgrade moduli kv
are again assumed to be estimated from ad hoc load tests by
employing a circular plate of diameter FP.
The numerical results concerning the case of a loose sand
stratum at varying spacing values are illustrated globally in
Figure 16. By decreasing the spacing among plates, the sys-
tem’s mechanical response becomes more rigid. The related
mechanical response of the most resistant sector (Sector A) for
spacing equal to 1, 2, and 4 m is reported in Figure 17.
Analogously, in Figures 18 and 19 the numerical results
obtained for varying values of spacing are illustrated with
reference to an ideal dense sand stratum.
148
Figure 13. (a) Comparison among normal forces relative to Sectors A and B and global force TN ; (b–d) sensitivity analysis at varying values of the vertical subgrade
modulus.
9. Concluding remarks
The simplified approach presented above has been designed to
reproduce the experimental results obtained by performing a
punching test on a steel spike plate placed on a horizontal soil
stratum. In particular the influence of the confinement induced
by a continuous wire mesh on the mechanical response of the
system has been discussed. The main objective of the research
has concerned the numerical evaluation of the maximum post-
tensioning load that can be applied to the bar. This work is
intended as a first effort to highlight this complex soil-structure
interaction problem, and a more accurate and wide validation
process will be required in the future.
C.G. di Prisco et al.
The method proposed is based on the hypothesis that the
anchoring system is operating under active conditions. The
semi-empirical approach proposed by the authors has been vali-
dated by comparing numerical calculations with large scale
experimental test data already available in the literature. In parti-
cular the effectiveness of the wire mesh is evaluated by artificially
distinguishing between the contributes given by the spike plate
and wire mesh respectively, calculating this latter from the
mechanical and geometrical properties of the mesh itself.
The main components of the proposed model concern the
description of the wire mesh behaviour in large displacements
and its interaction with the subsoil. An already available FEM
numerical code capable of reproducing the mechanical
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal 149

Figure 14. Mechanical response of the steel plate.

Table 4. Calibrated constitutive parameters of the spike plate and soil stratum
in loose conditions

Spike plate Soil

 
FP [m] R0 [kN / m] NM* [kN] kv MN m3 v [–] F0s [ ]  [ ]

0.22 666.46 59 12.08 0.25 30 30

Table 5. Calibrated constitutive parameters of the spike plate and soil

stratum in dense conditions

Spike plate Soil

 
FP [m] R0 [kN / m] NM* [kN] kv MN m3 v [–] F0s [ ]  [ ]

0.22 2560.82 277 46.22 0.25 42 42

interaction between the soil and the fictitious membrane. The

Figure 15. Comparison between experimental test results and numerical
entire calibration procedure has been described in detail and the
simulations. associated simplifying hypotheses have been discussed.
The simplified numerical model introduced seems to be cap-
able both of capturing in a satisfactory way the different factors
Table 3. Calibrated constitutive parameters for the wire mesh influencing the mechanical response of the system and of pro-
Wire mesh viding evidence of the resistant contributions of the different
elements characterising the structure. In particular, thanks to
AeA ½mm2 =m AeB ½mm2 =m KAe ½MN=m KBe ½MN=m EAe ½MPa EBe ½MPa numerical calculations, the role of the mechanical behaviour of
84.74 33.9 3 1 35700 29500 both soil and plate spacing has been parametrically analysed.

behaviour of a truss-composed structure in large displacements Acknowledgements

was used to simulate the response of the wire mesh. The
mechanical response of the spike plate without mesh was inter-
polated by using the standard Butterfield equation. This was
used to calibrate the subgrade reaction modulus describing the
The authors gratefully acknowledge Geobrugg Italia S.r.l. for the financial
support, A. Galli for collaborating in adapting the PWL code to reproduce the
wire mesh mechanical response, and M. Secondi for collaborating in the
reorganisation of numerical results.
150 C.G. di Prisco et al.

Figure 16. Loose sand subsoil: system’s mechanical response with increasing plate spacing.

Figure 17. Loose sand subsoil: evolution of the system’s mechanical response for varying spacings.
 Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal 151

Figure 18. Dense sand subsoil: system’s mechanical response with increasing plate spacing.

Figure 19. Dense sand subsoil: evolution of the system’s mechanical response for varying spacings.
152 C.G. di Prisco et al.
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