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Uplift Behavior of Plate Anchors in Cohesionless
Soil
Selçuk Bildik & Mustafa Laman
Department of Civil Engineering– Osmaniye Korkut Ata University,
Osmaniye, Turkey

ABSTRACT
In this study, the uplift behavior of plate anchors embedded in sand was investigated with a series of small
scale laboratory pull-out tests. Model tests were performed in a test box with square and rectangular anchor
plates. The effects of embedment and aspect ratio of anchor plates, and relative density of sand on uplift
behaviour of plate anchors were investigated. Based on the test results, it can be concluded that the
embedment and aspect ratio of anchor plates and relative density of sand are main parameters that affect
the uplift capacity of anchor plates.

Key words: aspect ratio, rectangular anchors, uplift capacity, sand.

1 INTRODUCTION Baker and Kondner (1966) confirmed Balla's major

findings regarding the behavioural difference of deep and
Anchor plate is used to support the structures such as shallow anchors in dense sand. Sutherland (1965)
transmission tower or offshore platform that required high presented results for the pull-out of 150mm horizontal
uplift resistance. Some also used to resist the lateral anchors in loose and dense sand, as well as large
force for structure such as sheet pile wall. The plate diameter shafts in medium dense to dense sands. It was
anchor is various in shape, such as square, rectangular, concluded that the mode of failure varied with sand
circular and strip. However, square plate and rectangular density and that Balla's analytical approach may give
plate are more often used in practical (Yau, 2006). In this reasonable results only in sands of intermediate density.
study, the uplift behavior of square and rectangular Das and Seeley (1975) reported uplift tests for the
anchors placed in different embedment ratio and relative horizontal strip anchors (L/B ≤ 5 ) in dry cohesion less
density of sand is investigated with laboratory tests. soils with a friction angle of =31° at a density of
3
Based on the test results, the embedment and aspect 14.8kN/m . For each aspect ratio (L/B), was found that
ratio of plate anchors and relative density of sand are the anchor capacity increases with the embedment ratio
main parameters that affect the behavior of plate before reaching a constant value at the critical
anchors. embedment depth. A similar investigation was conducted
by Rowe (1978) in dry cohesion less soils with friction
3
angles =31-33° and dry unit weight of =14.9kN/m .
2 LITERATURE REVIEW Polished steel plates were used for the anchors and the
interface roughness was measured as =16.7°. Most
During the last thirty years, several theoretical and semi- tests were performed on the anchors with an aspect ratio
empirical methods have been developed to predict the L/B of 8.75. Rowe (1978) reported decreasing of the
net ultimate uplifting load of continuous, circular and aspect ratio (L/D) leads to the increase of the anchor
rectangular foundations embedded in sand. The ultimate force (relative to L/B 8.75) of 10%, 25%, 35%, and 120%
uplift capacity of the foundation is the sum of two for L/B ratios of 1-5, respectively. Thus, the effect of the
components: (a) the weight of the soil and the foundation shape is significant for L/B ≤ 2 and is of little importance
in the failure zone and (b) the shearing resistance forL/B > 5. This suggests that the anchors with aspect
developed along the failure surface. Based on results of ratios of L/B > 5 effectively behave as a continuous strip
several model and field tests conducted in dense soil, and can be compared with the methods which obtain the
Balla (1961) established that, for shallow circular plane strain conditions.
foundation, the failure surface in soil make an angle and In contrast to the observations of Das and Seeley (1975),
the angle α is equal to 45- /2. Existing literature, in Rowe (1978) did not observe a critical embedment depth
general, Balla’s theory is in good agreement with the and strip anchor capacity was found to be continually
uplift capacity of shallow foundations embedded in dense increasing with the embedment ratio over the range of
sand at an embedment ratio of Df/B≤5. However for H/B=1 to 8. Murray and Geddes (1987, 1989) performed
foundations located in loose and medium sand, the extensive chamber testing programs who performed the
theory overestimates the ultimate uplift capacity. The uplift load tests on horizontal strip horizontal anchor
main reason Balla’s theory overestimates the ultimate plates in dense and medium dense cohesion less soils
uplift capacity for Df/B> about 5 even in dense sand o
with =43.6 and respectively =36°. Anchors were
because it is essentially deep foundation condition, and typically 50.8mm in width or diameter and were tested at
the failure surface does not extend to the ground surface. aspect ratios (L/B) of 1, 2, 5 and 10.
Dickin (1988) performed horizontal strip anchor plates
with aspect ratios of L/B = 1-8 at embedment ratios H/B
up to 8 in both loose and dense cohesion less soils. The
few number of conventional gravity tests were also
performed and compared to the centrifuge data. Dickin
concluded that the direct extrapolation of the conventional
chamber box test resulted at a field scale, would provide
over-optimistic predictions of the ultimate force for strip
horizontal anchor plates in the cohesion less soils. Dickin
studied the influence of the anchor geometry, embedment
depth and the soil density on the uplift capacity of one-
meter prototype horizontal strip anchor plate, by objecting
25mm models to an acceleration of 40g in Liverpool
centrifuge. It was found that for the strip anchors uplift
resistance expressed as dimensionless break-out factor,
increases significantly with the anchor embedment depth
and soil density.

3 EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES Figure 1b. Test set-up and model box

3.1 Model Box 3.2 Model Ground

The experimental programme was performed using the Uniform, clean, fine sand obtained from the Çakıt River
facility in the Geotechnical Laboratory of the Civil bed was used in this research. The sand was washed,
Engineering Department of the University of Cukurova. dried, and sorted by particle size. The specific gravity of
The apparatus used for model testing consists of a tank, the soil particles was determined by the picnometer
a loading system and measurement system. The facility method. Three tests were carried out and the average
and a typical model are shown in Figure 1a and 1b. Tests value was obtained. The maximum and the minimum dry
were conducted in a test box made of a steel frame with densities of the sand were measured. The particle size
inside dimensions of 0.70×0.70m in plan and 0.70m in distribution was determined using the dry sieving method.
height. Two side walls of the box consist of fibreglass Table 1 summarizes the general physical characteristics
plate and the other sides consist of steel plate (Bildik and of the sand.
Laman, 2010).
Loading tests were carried out on model rigid anchors Table 1. Properties of sand.
fabricated from mild steel. The model anchors were
square and rectangular, had thickness of 10mm. The load Property Unit Value
is transferred to the footing through a pull rod as shown in
Figure 1a. Coarse sand fraction (%) 0.00
Medium sand fraction (%) 46.40
Fine sand fraction (%) 53.60
D10 mm 0.18
D30 mm 0.30
D60 mm 0.50
Uniformity coefficient, CU - 2.78
Coefficient of curvature, CC - 1.00
Specific gravity kN/m3 26.80
Maximum dry unit weight kN/m3 17.06
Minimum dry unit weight kN/m3 15.03
Classification (USCS) - SP

The sand bed was prepared up in layers 25 mm thick.

Each layer was compacted by a hand-held vibratory
compactor. After the compaction of each sand layer, the
next lift height was controlled using scaled lines on the
glass plates of the test pit. To maintain the consistency of
Figure 1a. Test set-up and loading system in-place density throughout the test pit, the same
compactive effort was applied on each layer. The
difference in densities measured was found to be less
than 1%. The compaction technique adopted in this study
provided a uniform relative density of unit weights of
3 3
15.03kN/m and 17.06kN/m .
 resistance developed along the failure surface (Balla,
3.3 Model Anchors 1961). The weight of the soil increases with relative
density and embedment ratio. In addition those, failure
All model anchors were fabricated from 10mm thick mild surface length increases with embedment ratio. Thus, the
steel plate. Tests were carried out on square and uplift capacity of anchors in sand is strongly influenced by
rectangular anchors (12.5x50mm, 25x50mm and their embedment ratio and by the relative density of the
50x50mm). In the tests, the speed of the motor was sand (Figure 3). The experimental results have shown
adjusted to give anchor displacement rate of that the breakout factor increases with embedment ratio.
0.96mm/min. The pullout displacement was transmitted to Relative density is the main parameter that affect the
model anchor through the anchor rod, connected to uplift capacity of anchor plates.
loading arrangement..

4 TEST RESULTS

In this study, the main parameters investigated in the test

program are the effects of the embedment and aspect
ratio of plate anchors and relative density of sand on uplift
capacity. The aspect ratios of the anchor are 1,2 and 4
and the embedment ratios of the anchor were varied from
1 to 8 in the tests.

4.1 The Effects of Embedment Ratio

In the tests, the effect of the embedment ratio of the uplift

capacity was investigated. The uplift capacity of anchor
plates were increased with embedment ratio. Typical
plots for the uplift resistance-displacement behavior
obtained from the experiment of the dense sand are
Figure 3. The effect of relative density on uplift capacity
shown in Figure 2 for rectangular anchors (12.5x50mm).
(L=50mm, B=12.5mm, L/B=4)

4.3 The Effects of Aspect Ratio

In the tests, the effects of the aspect ratio was

investigated with different anchor plates (L/B=1, 2 and 4).
The results have shown that breakout factors increase
with increasing aspect ratio. The shape of the curve is
convex in dense sand case (Figure 4) while it is concave
in loose sand case (Figure 5). The following general
equation was obtained from the curves given in Figure 4
and 5.
2
Fq=X×(H/B) +Y×(H/B)+Z

Figure 2. The effect of embedment ratio on uplift capacity Equation has two coefficients and a constant. These
3
(L/B=4, k=17.06kN/m ) parameters vary with relative density and aspect ratio.
For the loose and dense sand conditions, coefficients and
constant parameters are given in Table 2 and Table 3.
4.2 The Effects of Relative Density

In this study, the results are expressed in terms of break

out factor (Fq) and breakout factor is calculated in the
form Fq=Qu/ *A*Df. Where A= area of the anchor plate,
Qu=uplift capacity, =unit weight of the sand and
Df=embedment distance of the anchor. In the study, excel
used to fit the all curves. The relative density of loose
3
sand is 35% ( =15.03kN/m ) and dense sand is 85%
3
( =17.06kN/m ).
The ultimate uplift capacity of the foundation is the sum of
two components: (a) the weight of the soil and the
foundation in the failure zone and (b) the shearing
 parameters that affect the uplift capacity of
anchor plates.
The experimental results have shown that the
breakout factor increases parabolically with
embedment ratio in dense and loose sands.
However the shape of the curve is convex in
dense sand case while it is concave in loose
sand case.
Geometry of anchor plates has considerable
effect on breakout factor considering the square
or rectangular shaped geometry

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Figure 4. The effect of aspect ratio on uplift capacity in
dense sand. First author thanks to TUBITAK (The Scientific and
Technological Research Council of Turkey) for
scholarships financial support.

SYMBOLS

A : Area of anchor
B : Width of anchor
Cu : Uniformity coefficient
Cc : Coefficient of curvature
D : Diameter of anchor
Df : Embedment depth of anchor
Df/B : Embedment ratio of anchor
(Df/B)cr : Critical embedment ratio of anchor
Figure 5. The effect of aspect ratio on uplift capacity in L : Length of anchor
loose sand Qu : Uplift capacity of anchor
: Angle of failure surface
Table 2. Coefficients and constant values for loose sand. : Soil friction angle
: Unit weight of soil
2
L/B X Y Z R
1 1.327 0.669 4.213 0.999 REFERENCES
2 1.434 7.318 -2.901 0.993
4 3.619 9.804 -7.575 0.996 Balla, A., (1961). “The resistance of breaking-out of
mushroom foundations for pylons”, Proceedings, 5th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Table 3. Coefficients and constant values for dense sand.
Foundation Engineering, Vol. 1, 569-576, Paris.
2
L/B X Y Z R
Baker, W. H. and Konder R. L. (1966), “Pullout Load
1 -0.189 3.075 -2.431 0.992 Capacity of a Circular Earth Anchor Buried in
2 -0.267 4.062 -1.500 0.993 Sand”, Highway Research Record, No. 108, 1-10.
4 -0.639 7.393 -2.54 0.985
Bildik, S. and Laman, M., (2010) “Experimental
Investigations on Uplift Behaviour of Plate Anchors in
5. CONCLUSION Cohesionless Soil,” The Ninth International Congress on
Advances in Civil Engineering (ACE 2010), Karadeniz
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Murray, E. J., and Geddes, J. D. (1989) Resistance of

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