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Geogrids, which are installed to prevent sliding failure on long and steep slopes, have to be safely anchored. The design and calculation of the anchorage is based on simple design rules. Basically, it is assumed that the pull-out resistance is proportional to the soil shear strength, the vertical load and the anchoring length and that the soil-reinforcement coefficient of proportionality as determined in pull-out tests is typically in the range between 0.5 and 1. Based on an extended version of a model for the soil-geogrid interaction, which was described by Ziegler and Timmers (2004) and Sieira et al. (2009), the physical assumptions and limitations of these rules are discussed. For those geogrids, for which the passive thrust mobilization of earth pressure by the displacement of the transversal or bearing force grid elements substantially contributes to the pull-out resistance, the mechanical strength of the junction between longitudinal and transversal elements is of crucial importance. The relation between mechanical properties of the junction, the flexibility of the longitudinal grid elements, the surface friction and the finally achieved pull-out resistance is exemplarily shown by a model calculation. It is included, that due to aging and creep the short-term junction strength may be significantly lower than the long-term strength. There is a certain critical pull-out resistance and an associated critical anchorage length. Both are determined by the strength of the junction embedded into the soil and are independent from the actually installed anchorage length. For a safe design it is not allowed to go beyond that limit. This requirement restricts the range of application of the common design rules. It follows that not only the long-term strength of the longitudinal elements has to be considered and quantified by reduction factors but also the long-term strength of junctions. These limitations have to be observed to achieve a safe design of the anchorage. Preliminary design rules are discussed.
Data from four samples of commercially available PET geogrids (made either of yarns or bars), which were measured by BAM or other institute, are analyzed to discuss the procedure and problems of determining the chemical reduction factor RFCH associated with a certain service life. Estimates from Arrhenius extrapolation usually have very large statistical errors. The level of confidence must therefore be specified. A reliable estimate requires data from immersion tests below the glass transition temperature of PET. To extrapolate the time of reductions for each reduction factor at such low temperatures, one has to know the functional form of the mechanical degradation curve. It is shown how the degradation curve of the tensile strength may be obtained by determining the relation between increase in concentration of carboxyl end group (CEG) and decrease in tensile strength. Therefore, experimental studies to determine the chemical reduction factor should be accompanied by the measurements of the CEG concentration and the intrinsic viscosity. Furthermore, such measurements allow a non-ambiguous determination of the molecular mass. Hydrolytic molecular degradation will proceed continuously even at 20 °C with half-life of the inverse of the CEG concentration of 40–100 y. Nevertheless, small chemical reduction factors at a lifetime of 100 y are obtained with high level of confidence for materials with low initial CEG concentration and high molecular mass. This is shown by pooling data from samples with comparable CEG concentration, molecular mass and above all comparable intrinsic relation between increase in CEG concentration and decrease in strength. Therefore, the recommendation of ISO TR 20432, Table 2, for chemical reduction factors seems to be applicable to PET geogrids with index properties well below the one specified by the technical report. Whether these index properties are actually a sufficient condition to have small chemical reduction factors even at a very long service life is still an open question. The determination of chemical reduction factor should be based on aging experiments, at least for products with index properties close to the limiting values for the following reasons. (1) Even so standards are available, results of different laboratories on absolute values of CEG concentration and number averaged molecular mass differ to a certain extent. (2) Other factors, like crystallization, affect the mechanical degradation significantly. (3) There is no universally applicable form of the mechanical degradation curve.