Analysis of the passive earth pressure on a gravity-type anchorage for a suspension bridge

In this study, numerical analyses have been performed for a reasonable gravity-type anchorage design. The emphasis is on evaluating the effect of the passive earth pressure for gravity-type anchorages under pullout loading. Three-dimensional FE analyses were performed for different types of bedrock and embedded depths. Based on this study, it is found that the displacement of the gravity-type anchorage decreased with increasing embedded depth due to the increase in the passive resistance in front of the anchorage. It is also found that the resistance due to passive earth pressure in front of the anchorage accounts for approximately 10–30% of the total resistance and thus represents a significant improvement in the prediction of the realistic resistance for gravity-type anchorages subjected to pullout loads.