Pullout capacity of plus-shaped multi-plate horizontal anchors in sand

Document Type : Reply to comment on Paper

Authors

1 Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur (H.P.), India.

2 Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur.

10.22059/ijmge.2025.357550.595053

Abstract

In this study, the displacement finite element method was employed to evaluate the load-displacement response and estimate the ultimate pullout capacity of anchor plates. A detailed comparison was conducted between conventional and non-conventional shaped single-plate and multi-plate horizontal anchors. The analysis focused on square and plus-shaped anchors, examining the influence of anchor geometry, embedment depth, plate thickness, tie rod diameter, soil relative density, and spacing between plates on their pullout performance. The results indicate that pullout capacity increases with greater relative density, plate thickness, and embedment depth but decreases with larger tie rod diameters. Square anchors demonstrated 15–40% higher pullout capacities than plus-shaped anchors due to their larger contact area. Multi-plate configurations significantly improved pullout resistance compared to single plates, with critical plate spacing optimizing performance: 1.5b for square anchors and 1b for plus-shaped anchors. For dense sand, plus-shaped multi-plate anchors exhibited comparable pullout capacities to square single-plate anchors despite a 25% reduction in anchor area. At an embedment depth of 15 m, square triple-plate anchors achieved a pullout capacity of 360.6 MPa, while plus-shaped anchors reached 256.8 MPa. Stress distribution analysis revealed localized failure patterns above the anchors, with higher stress concentrations near the plates. These findings highlight the effectiveness of multi-plate configurations and optimized geometries in improving anchor performance, offering practical solutions for geotechnical applications requiring high pullout resistance in sandy soils. Overall, plus-shaped double-plate and triple-plate anchors can effectively replace square-shaped single-plate anchors.

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