Geocell mattresses are one type of three-dimensional honeycomb soil reinforcements that is manufactured from polyethylene sheets using ultrasonically welded joints. This type of geosynthetics is commonly used to stabilize geotechnical problems in which the pullout failure is likely to occur. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the pullout behavior of a geocell by considering the effect of soil grain size. A series of 18 monotonic and 24 multistage geocell pullout tests were performed in sandy and gravely soil. The obtained geocell pullout loads were divided into two components: passive and frictional resistance. A previously made theoretical approach was used to measure the mobilized frictional and passive resistance components to evaluate the contribution of each mechanism. The results obtained from monotonic geocell pullout tests showed that the geocells exhibited hardening pullout behavior and the pullout failure occurred when the geocell material did not have any more pullout capacity to resist external load. Increases in the geocell height and soil grain size had significant effects on the passive component and it was seen that the contribution of geocell height developed passive resistance higher than the soil grain size. Furthermore, the multistage test results indicated that for removal of the geocell, the ultimate post-cyclic pullout load was less than the monotonic pullout load. This was the result of a reciprocating motion from loading caused by the interlock between the geocell infill soil and the surrounding material, which weakened and broke during the cyclic phase. As the coarseness of the soil increased, the interfacial strength increased. The theoretical approach did not single out the passive component between monotonic and multistage tests and the obtained passive resistance values were the same in these calculations. However, the cyclic loading could affect this component. Also, the soil particle size had a significant effect on the cumulative displacement during the cyclic phase.

This paper presents a recently developed automated pullout apparatus for soil-geogrid strength and deformation behavior investigation. The new apparatus is capable of applying load/displacement controlled monotonic/cyclic loads at different rates/frequencies, different wave shapes and loading patterns, through a computer closed-loop system. An extruded uniaxial geogrid and silica sand are used throughout the experiments. The effects of normal pressure (surcharge) and relative density are investigated on displacement distributions and pullout capacity of the geogrid in both monotonic and cyclic tests.In monotonic tests, it is observed that with increase in relative density and surcharge, pullout resistance has increased. In cyclic tests, despite some minor observations of post-cyclic strength increased, no specific comment can be made at this stage on the post-cyclic strength.

The interaction between soil and geosynthetics has great importance in engineering work, especially in design and stability analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced geotechnical structures. In recent decades, several laboratory methods have been performed to properly understand the interaction between soil and geogrids, including pullout test, large-scale direct shear test. Although factors such as the geometry of the reinforced soil system and its construction process may affect the interaction properties between the soil and the geosynthetic, these properties are strongly influenced by the physical and mechanical properties of the soil and the geometrical and mechanical properties of the geosynthetic. Pullout test determines the geosynthetic pullout resistance, which is an important design parameter in relation to the internal stability of geosynthetic-reinforced geotechnical structures, and allows the measurement of displacements throughout the specimen during the pullout testing. Pullout force refers to the tensile force required to create an external sliding of geogrid embedded in soil mass. The tensile strength of the reinforcement consists of the frictional resistance on the surface of the longitudinal and transverse members of the geogrid and the passive resistance that is mobilized against the transverse members. Although fine-grained soil is recommended in the design of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures, many geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures are constructed using soil containing a fine percentage. Therefore it is important to investigate the effect of fine grains on the stability and performance of such soil structures under different loading conditions. Geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures are sometimes affected by cyclic loads due to traffic and train crossings, vibration of industrial machinery, wave and earthquake. In this study, by performing static and multistage pullout tests, the static and post-cyclic pullout behavior of a uniaxial geogrid manufactured in Iran under the brand GPGRID80/30 is presented. The tests were carried out on a large scale pullout box with a dimension of 90 × 50 × 50 cm and with a constant rate and multi-stage procedures on three different soil types including clean sand, sand containing 10 and 20% fine silt and three effective vertical stresses of 20, 40 and 60 kPa. Results show that geogrid static pullout resistance increases with increasing effective vertical stress in all three different soil types. Also, the increase of silt in the sandy soil resulted in an increase in the monotonic maximum pullout resistance at effective stress of 20 kPa. The geogrid behavior in all three soils for 20 kPa vertical effective stress was strain softening and for the 40 and 60 kPa vertical effective stress the geogrid pullout behavior was strain hardening. However, 10% increase in silt content leads to a slight decrease in monotonic pullout resistance and a 20% increase resulted the slight increase in monotonic pullout resistance of geogrid at vertical stress of 40 and 60 kPa. As the amount of silt content increased, the effect of cyclic loading on post-cyclic resistance increased, especially in vertical effective stresses of 40 and 60 kPa. Also, at effective stress of 20 kPa, the geogrid post-cyclic resistance decreased in all three sands, sand containing 10% silt and sand containing 20% silt relative to its corresponding monotonic pullout resistance.

When the metal is in contact with the soil, there is the possibility of sticking soil to the metal surface. For determining the tension stress for soil separating from metal surface the cone pullout device designed. In this apparatus, a cone penetrates into the soil, stopping it for a specific time and, then, separating from the soil. In the present research, according to previous studies and ideas about this subject, cone pullout test device is designed and manufactured. By performing 90 tests on a montmorillonite clay soil with different values for stope time and separation speed, the effect of these variables was studied. The results showed optimum stope time (t =5 min), and separation speed cone (15 mm /min) was determined. To evaluate the reproducibility of the results, by performing other 60 tests on two other kaolinite clay soils, coeficient of variation (14: 49  Cv  1: 4) and accuracy index (1: 22  P  1: 01) were determined. these values showed which results were reputable and acceptable. Because of the effect of moisture content on the engineering properties of fine-grained soil, the effect of moisture changes on tensile stress for separation of metal from soil was studied. The results of the study showed that with an increase in water content, the tension stress decreased. Accordingly, linear relationships were proposed between soil moisture content and tensile stress for montmorillonite and kaolinite clay soils. Slope of the curve moisture content versus tension stress for montmorillonite clay soil and kaolinite clay soil are 1. 25 and 0. 82 respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the slope of the curve corresponds to the soil type; increasing plastic index increases tension stress.

In this study a comprehensive set of pullout tests were conducted on geogrid. Apart from measuring the interface properties (i.e., the internal friction angle and dilatancy angle) between the geogrid and two soils, some interesting results concerning the mechanisms behind the behavior of reinforcement in pullout tests were obtained.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate analytically the fully grouted rock bolt interaction with grout and rock in pullout test and to determine the load-displacement curve of the bolt head (beginning of the bonded section). Usually, the pullout test output is only the load-displacement curve. This paper discusses how to use this curve to determine the bolt-grout-rock interaction. For modeling bolt-grout interface behavior, coupling (compete for bonding), partial decoupling, decoupling with the residual shear strength, and complete decoupling have been considered. With increasing the applied load, two possible cases including complete pullout and bolt shank yielding are considered. Based on experimental results, a model for the shear stress along a fully grouted bolt is assumed. According to this model, the distribution of axial stress in the bolt and displacement of the bolt head is determined. It is also assumed that the bolt is sufficiently long, which is usually used in underground excavations. Based on the presented analytical method, the bolt head load-displacement curve is determined by assuming input parameters. This curve is compared with a pullout test result.

Geosynthetics are mainly used to stabilize and reinforce different types of earth structures such as slopes, retaining walls, bridge abutments, and foundations. In these cases, the interaction between soil and geosynthetic plays a significant role. In order to investigate the factors affecting the static, cyclic, and post-cyclic pullout behavior of a type of geogrid produced in Iran under the brand name of GPGRID80/30 embedded in uniform sand, an experimental study was carried out using a large-scale pullout apparatus. In order to study the monotonic and post-cyclic pullout behavior of geogrid in different conditions, a series of monotonic pullout tests and multistage pullout tests were performed. Given the effect of vertical effective stress on the pullout resistance, the maximum apparent friction coefficient of the surface of the geogrid and soil and deformation along the geogrid was investigated using monotonic tests. In the multistage pullout test, the influence of vertical effective stress, cyclic load amplitude, frequency, and number of tensile load cycle on the post-cyclic pullout resistance was studied. The results indicated that with an increase in the vertical effective stress, the pullout resistance of the geogrid and the maximum apparent coefficient of friction would increase and decrease, respectively. A comparison of the results of the multistage pullout tests and constant rate pullout tests with the vertical stress of 60 kPa showed that the cyclic loading had no significant effect on the post-cyclic pullout strength compared to the static pullout strength of the embedded geogrid in the sandy soil; however, with vertical effective stresses of 20 and 40kPa, a reduction in the maximum post-cyclic pullout strength was more evident than the pullout strength. Increasing the effective vertical stress and cyclic load amplitude in the second stage of the multi-stage test would enhance the cumulative displacements along the geogrid sample. A comparison between the loading-unloading tensile stiffness at the end of the second stage and tensile stiffness at the beginning of the second stage suggested that the cyclic loading would increase the tensile stiffness and finally, at the third stage of the experimental multistage test, the tensile stiffness would decrease as the displacement increased until it reached the corresponding value in the constant-rate displacement test.

In this paper, the performance of the strip of scrap tires (Geo Scrap Tire(GST)) with horizontal transverse members evaluates as reinforcement elements in mechanically stabilized earth walls (MSEWs) by large scale pullout test (i. e. 1. 4 m × 0. 8 m × 0. 8 m). In this regards, the experimental pullout results of GST reinforcement compared with theoretical equations and conventional reinforcement of Geosynthetic Strip (GS), Steel Strip (ST) and Steel Strip with Rib (STR). The experimental pullout results showed that the innovative suggested reinforcement element performed better than the other strips so that the GST strip was capable of increasing pullout resistance by more than 3, 2. 5 and 1. 5 times compared to the steel strip, the geosynthetic strip and the ribbed steel strip. The results show maximum pullout resistance of GST affected by the S/B ratio and with adding three horizontal transverse members can be increasing pullout resistance by more than 5. 9, 4. 9 and 3. 2 times compared to ST, GS and STR. Thus, using GST reinforcement with three horizontal transverse member needs a smaller length (less than 30%) comparing to conventional strip reinforcement (ST, GS, STR). Therefore, using Geo Scrap Tire reinforcement can open a new horizon in solving the problem of scrap tires and assure geotechnical engineers in achieving superior and more economical systems of reinforced soil walls.

The performance of steel rebars in reinforced concrete is always complicated and important. Each reinforced concrete element contains two parts, including concrete and steel rebars. Under severe forces, the behavior of reinforced concrete structures and their elements is dependent on the interaction between steel and concrete.  Due to the composite nature of these structures, their performance is complex and might be studied in different aspects. Incorrect evaluation of this item will lead to the wrong design. Although this performance affects all parts of a concrete structure, development length and lap splice are the most significant parts. One of the common tests, in evaluating the steel reinforcing bars' performance, is the pullout test, however, there are deficiencies in different investigations. In this research, five pullout specimens were tested, containing four specimens with confined and one with unconfined concrete, which had three different bar sizes including 20, 22, and 25 mm. Tests were conducted on 300 mm cube specimens and 250 mm development length of steel rebars which was insufficient. Rebars with sufficient development length have a different performance. The testing method was monotonic and the compressive strength of concrete was 23 MPa. Normally two cracking and damaging mechanism is observed. It is pullout of rebar or splitting of concrete. In confined concrete pullout occurs, while in an unconfined specimen, splitting of the concrete takes place so the bonding strength and axial force tend to zero much faster. Using these results and results from other researches, some important parameters in the field of bonding and slippage of rebars, including compressive strength of concrete, rebar size, force direction (pulling or pushing), and confinement of concrete were investigated and some equations with high accuracy were proposed to generalize available results to desired results. For verifying and increasing the range of results, three valid kinds of research are used, which confirm the accuracy of results and equations. This study showed that the bonding strength would increase 20 percent by 50 percent increase in compressive strength of concrete. Moreover, by changing the bar diameter from 20 to 22 and 25 mm, for a constant compressive strength of concrete, bonding strength decreases 4.3 and 10.6 percent respectively. By using the proposed equation, maximum bond strength for different bar sizes may be evaluated. Besides, maximum bond strength is reduced up to 40 percent of a confined specimen, and the slippage corresponding to maximum bond strength is reduced 15 to 30 percent as the result of using unconfined concrete. In the same way, for the same bar diameter, pullout force reduced up to 40 percent. The slippage corresponded to maximum bonding strength is about 1.4 to 2 mm for confined concrete and 0.25 to 0.45 mm for unconfined concrete. Bond strength and slippage of rebars vary in compressive and pulling forces. This is due to the axial behavior of the rebar's head in compression. The compressive axial force of the bar may increase the bonding strength up to 10 percent, comparing to pulling axial force.

Large pullout test is used to investigate the geogrid pullout behavior in the anchorage zone. When the pullout load is applied to the geogrid, this force is gradually transmitted along with the sample until it reaches the end of the geogrid. In order to more accurately investigate the soil-geogrid interaction mechanism, the pullout behavior of geogrid should be evaluated based on the active length. In this study, by performing a series of large-scale pullout tests, the distribution of shear stress and pullout interaction coefficient of a PET geogrid embedded in clean sand and 20% clayey sand were investigated based on active length. The results showed that the value of the pullout force to start the movement of the last geogrid transverse member increased with increasing vertical effective stress in both geogrid embedded in two soil. In all pullout tests, minimum active interaction coefficient was obtained at the conversion of transfer force stage to pullout stage.