This paper presents an analytical method for estimating the stresses in planar tensile reinforcements due to compressive shearing of the surrounding soil mass. The formulation adapts techniques of shear-lag analysis, commonly used in the mechanics of composites. The analyses assume that the soil and reinforcement behave as linear, isotropic and elastic materials, linked through a frictional interface. The inclusion is oriented parallel to the minor, external, principal stress. Closed form solutions are presented for the axial reinforcement stresses, soil-reinforcement interface tractions and lateral stresses in the soil as functions of inclusion geometry, material properties and boundary stresses. The proposed formulation provides a simple and direct method for estimating the stress distribution within reinforced soil masses at working load conditions.
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