Comparison of FEA and Analytical Methods for Determining Stability of a RAP Supported MSE Wall-Article

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The study evaluates whether Meyerhof’s analytical bearing-capacity method can provide a practical alternative to finite element analysis (FEA) for checking the global stability of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls supported by Rammed Aggregate Piers (RAPs).<br /><br />The researchers created two-dimensional FEA models with varying wall dimensions, RAP replacement ratios, and matrix-soil undrained strengths. They compared each model’s strength-reduction factor of safety with results from a spreadsheet implementing Meyerhof’s method. The analytical method represented the RAP-reinforced foundation as a composite soil zone and included a correction for load eccentricity.<br /><br />The methods agreed closely when factors of safety were between 1.0 and 1.5, with differences generally no greater than 5%. In this range, the analytical approach was typically slightly conservative. Above about 1.5, the results diverged. The authors attribute this to increasingly complex interactions among the wall, piers, and matrix soil, including stress concentrations beneath the wall. At these higher safety factors, sliding may also become the controlling failure mode rather than global instability.<br /><br />The findings suggest that Meyerhof’s method can serve as a quick, economical check of global stability for RAP-supported MSE walls when safety factors fall within the typical design range. It may reduce the need for time-consuming, costly FEA in such cases. However, FEA remains useful where higher safety factors or more complex soil–structure interactions need to be assessed. Both approaches can capture failure mechanisms that conventional limit-equilibrium slope-stability analyses may represent poorly.

Keywords

Meyerhof method

finite element analysis

MSE walls

Rammed Aggregate Piers

global stability

bearing capacity

factor of safety

soil-structure interaction

mechanically stabilized earth

analytical method