An experimental and numerical study of rate effects for plate anchors in clay

Existing design charts for evaluation of the uplift capacity of plate anchors are difficult to apply in practice as it is often unclear if the applied loading will lead to an undrained response and, if it does, how the average/operational undrained strength of the clay should be assessed. This paper examines explicitly the effects of partial drainage during load application in a series of centrifuge model tests in overconsolidated kaolin and reports predictions from complementary coupled-consolidation finite element analyses. Good agreement between the experimental results and numerical predictions is demonstrated, and inferred normalised velocities marking the uplift rates at which drained and undrained behaviour may be assumed are shown to be in agreement with those inferred from variable rate T-bar penetration tests.