Tactile Pressure Sensors to analyse Anchor Wall Behaviour in mid-scale Experiments

Material ageing, such as corrosion of reinforcements or damage to geotechnical tension elements, can lead, among other effects, to load redistribution mechanisms at the interface of structure and the adjacent soil. These mechanisms are difficult to capture, as analytical calculations are not practical and three-dimensional numerical simulations, utilizing advanced constitutive laws require sufficient monitoring data to validate the calculations. Consequently, it is difficult to determine the reliability of damaged structures. To improve existing knowledge in this field, a test setup simulating an anchor wall was developed, to provide calibration data for numerical studies and to evaluate load redistribution mechanisms at the soil-structure interface in general. In this context, newly developed Tactile Pressure Sensors (TPS) were tested for their suitability as an additional monitoring tool, to record changes in compressive stress at the interface and consequently, to complement conventional monitoring devices used for deformation and force measurements. Such TPS can enable the visualization of an approximate compressive stress distribution across the entire interface, utilizing 576 individual sensing elements over an area of 1.50 m² to monitor changes in stress. Thus, additional data is provided to improve the evaluation of load redistribution mechanisms and to be used as validation data for numerical models.