The effect of backfill slope on the perfoimance of geosynthetically reinforced soil walls is investigated using finite element analyses, with particular reference to the location of the potential failure surface. The methodology involves initial validation of the numerical model against instrumentation records from a full-scale wall and subsequent parametric study of different wall and surcharge configurations. For practical purposes, the location of the potential planar failure surface is found to be independent of the presence of a sloping backfill on the top of the wall. Moreover, the noimalized summation of reinforcement tensions along the critical planar surface is found to depend only on the sloping backfill geometry. The use of the Rankine surface is shown to be a conservative, but suitable, design basis for geosynthetically reinforced walls with sloping backfills.
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