664 CAN. GEOTECH. J . VOL.

10, 1973

The Influence of Anchor Inclination on Pull-out Resistance

of Clays
T . H. HANNA
Departmetlt of Civil otld Strlictliral Et~gineeritrg,Utziversity of Sllefield, Shefield, Eriglrnd SI 3JD
Received May 8 , 1973
Accepted July 17, 1973

A theoretical model is described that was used t o examine the influence of anchor inclination o n
pull-out capacity. Use was made o f previous general findings for pile shaft adhesion prediction in stiff
clays. It is shown that the adhesion available at the anchor shaft - clay interface depends on: (1) the
in situ stress state in the ground; (2) anchor inclination; and (3) the initial shear stress existing in the
ground in the direction of the anchor shaft. The possible importance of the reported trends is considered.

On dtcrit un n~odklethtorique qui a CtC utilise dans I'ttude de I'influence de I'inclinaison d'un ancrage
sur sa rtsistance a I'arrachement. On a fait usage des observations anttrieures concernant I'adhtrence
de pieux dans les argiles raides. On montre que I'adhtrence lnobilisable a I'interface argile-ancrage
est fonction ( I ) des contraintes en place (2) de I'inclinaison de I'ancrage et (3) des contraintes de cisaille-
ment initiales existant dans le sol dans la direction de I'ancrage. L'importance possible des tendances
observees est considtrte. [Traduit par le journal]

Introduction
When load is applied to an anchor, shear
stresses are developed at the anchor shaft -
soil interface. When the shear strength of the
soil is reached along the length of the anchor
shaft failure 0ccurs.l The magnitude of the
shear stresses which may be developed at the
anchor shaft - soil interface is known to
depend on factors which include the geometry
of the anchor, its method of construction, the
mechanical and physical properties of the soil
adjacent to the anchor shaft, and the time
elapsed since the application of the applied
load. Very tentative suggestions based on em- uv
pirical approaches have been put forward by FIG.1. Stress state in a soil mass.
Hanna ( 1968), Meyerhof and Adams ( 1968),
Littlejohn (1970), Bassett (1 970), Adams effective stresses at any depth Z below a
and Radharkrishna (1971 ), VesiC (1971 ), and horizontal ground surface, Fig. 1, are given by
Adams and Glyn (1972) for computation of
the ultimate pull-out resistance of an anchor in
clay.
To date in clay soils anchor use has been
restricted to heavily over-consolidated and very where ;7 is the average density of the overlying
stiff clays such as the London clay and glacial material, ii is the pore water pressure at the
tills. It is well known, Skempton (1961), that point being considered, and KO,by definition, is
the stress state in such soils is one where the the coefficient of earth pressure at rest. With-
effective vertical stress is less than the effective out a knowledge of the value of KO the stress
horizontal stress. The vertical and horizontal state of a particular soil cannot be quantified
and consequently the analysis of a number of
'It has been assumed in this analysis that the very geotechnical engineering problems must be in-
small proportion of the ~ ~ l t i n ~ pull-out
ate load taken complete. By an ingenious method Skempton
in 'suction' at the anchor base can be neglected. (196 1) was able to infer the variation of the
Can. Ceotech. J.. LO. 663 (1973)

Skempton
fhOp ~ e al.
t greater than 1.0 depending on soil type and
FIG.2. Variation of KO value with depth in Lon-
don Clay (Cole and Burland 1972).
stress state for a site at Bradwell in the London
Clay, Fig. 2. Recent analytical work using the
finite element method, Cole and Burland
( 1972), has shown independently that the ini-
tial stress state in the London Clay formation is
similar to that suggested by Skempton.
In use ground anchors are installed at in-
clinations from vertical through to horizontal
but the more usual inclination is about 15 or
20" to the horizontal for the support of retain-
ing walls. With increase in the size of anchor
projects and the demand for a check of the
design working load by field testing, anchor test
programs may be performed prior to the start
of an anchoring contract and the results of such
tests used to calibrate analytical predictions.
The most convenient inclination for test an-
chors is usually vertical, yet the results of such
tests may have to be extrapolated to confirm
the suitability of these anchors when used at
different inclinations to the vertical. Because
most, if not all, of the very stiff and heavily
over-consolidated clays possess an initial stress
state which is anisotropic, it follows that the
pull-out capacity of anchors installed at dif-
ferent inclinations to the vertical must be
different. In this short note some consideration
is given to this general problem following the
effective stress approach of Chandler (1 968)
and Burland (1972) for bored piles in clay.
No claim is being made that this analysis is
rigorous but it may serve as a starting point for
more detailed study.
Shaft Resistance of an Anchor
During the 1950's and 1960's much infor-
mation of an empirical nature was collected on
the average adhesion developed on the shafts
of bored piles in clay, Skempton (1959) and
Tomlinson ( 1970), for example. An empirical
coefficient a was introduced which related the
average adhesion to the average undrained
shear strength of the clay along the pile shaft.
A range of a values from less than 0.3 to
method of pile construction, was found. From
this range of cx values a value of 0.45 was even-
tually suggested for design purposes and this
value is often used.
In an introduction to a discussion on the
prediction of the load carrying capacity of piles
Burland (1972) argued that there was 1:ttle
fundamental justification for relating shaft ad-
hesion to undrained shear strength. He gave
three reasons as follows:
1. the major shear distortion is confined to
a relatively thin zone around the pile shaft and
drainage to or from this zone will take place
rapidly during loading of the pile;
2. the boring of a hole in the ground and its
subsequent filling with concrete must disturb
and remold the soil adjacent to the pile shaft;
and
3. there is no simple relationship between
the undrained and drained shear strengths of a
soil sample.
If the assumption is made that fallure at the
anchor shaft - soil interface occurs under
drained conditions then the adhesion stress
mobilized will depend on the effective normal
stress on the anchor shaft. It is still not known
how the drilling of a hole in a soil and its
subsequent filling with grout either under
gravity or under pressure, affects the normal
effective stress in the ground. Bassett (1970)
has suggested possible stress fields surrounding
a grouted anchor but so far no serious attempt
has been made to measure the effective earth
pressure state adjacent to the anchor shaft let
alone predict it mathematically.
Following the assumption of Chandler
( 1968) and Burland (1972) that the effective
normal stress on the anchor shaft is propor-
tional to the initial in situ vertical effective
stress in the ground, the problem is greatly
simplified. Consider an anchorage zone of
length 1 located at an average depth Z below
ground surface as shown in Fig. 3, and con-
sider a small element of the anchor shaft -
666 CAN. GEOTECH. J . VOL. 10, 1973

pressure at rest, p is a dimensionless coefficient

which is a function of the anchor shaft inclina-
tion, 0, and 4,' is the drained angle of friction
of the soil at the anchor shaft - soil interface.
The total pull-out load, (2, is
1
[4] Q = o,'pKo tan +,I, 2nr dl
ANCHORAGE l=O

Denoting the area of the anchorage zone by A,

FIG. 3. Geometry of the inclined anchor problem.
soil interface, Fig. 4. If a,,' is the effective
normal stress on the interface the adhesion will
be given by
[3] Cat = on' tan 4,' = o,'pKo tan 4,'
where a,;' is the initial vertical effective stress
in the ground, KO is the coefficient of earth
the pull-out load becomes
Q = Ap(r,'[(Ko tan 4,') average]
where a,,' is the average vertical initial effective
stress in the ground at mid-height of the
anchorage zone. Using Burland's notation
whereby the quantity [ ( K Otan 4,') average] is
denoted by ,G, then
[5-~ p =+C
Po"

STATE
INTERFACE

= sine Cos e [I - KO] for KO< I

= u,,' sin e cos 8 [K,-I ] KO> I

cQI = On1 tan #a'

=p KO tan $a'

FIG. 4. ( A ) Initial stress states on element of anchor shaft, ( B ) adhesion mobilized on

element of anchor shaft.
 NOTES

FIG. 5. Variation of average adhesion with KOvalue and anchor inclination, @.

When the anchor is in a vertical direction the [8] zi = o,' sin 0 cos O(1 - K O )
effective normal stress on the anchor shaft is
for normally consolidated soils with KO < 1 and
ull', and when it is in a horizontal direction, the
cffective normal stress is For any angle of for soils with KO> 1 7 ; becomes
(T,;'.

inclination of the anchor to the horizontal, 6, [ g ] z i = o,' sin 0 cos @(KO- 1)

a normal and a shear stress act on the shaft,
the direction of the initial shear stress being The available adhesion at the anchor shaft -
dependent on the value of KO. The effective soil interface therefore is IC,' + 7 , and for KO
normal stress a,,'is related to u,', aH', and 8 as < 1 , T~ is negative while for KO > 1, T~ is posi-

follows : tive. The ratio of the average adhesion mo-

bilized to the maximum average adhesion
+
[6] o H r ( l- cos2 0 ) ovrcos2 0 = o,,' available is
and hence the adhesion mobilized on the plane [lo]
inclined at 6 to the horizontal is
177 Ca = ovftan +ar(Ko(l- cos2 0 ) + cos2 0 ) C1ll = - sin 8 cos O(1 - K O )
( K o ( l - cos2 0 ) + cos2 0 ) tan +,'
Because the plane of the anchor shaft is not a
principal pike for 0 < 0 < 9 0 ° , an initial for the case of K O< 1
shear stress, T ~ acts,
, Fig. 4, and is of magnitude and
668 C A N . GEOTECH. 1. VOL. 10, 1973
FIG.6 . Variation of mobilized adhesion ratio with K Ovalue and anchor inclination, 0.
sin 8 cos 0(K, - 1)
+ (K,(I - cos2 0) + cos2 0) tan+:
for KO3 1.
There are four variables in Eqs. [ l l ] and
[12], namely, e, KO,and a,',and 4,'. The mag-
nitude of KO depends on the stress history of
the soil, the soil type, and the method of anchor
construction. The value of 4,' will be con-
trolled by the soil type and the properties of
the anchor surface. Because the depth to the
center of the anchorage zone, 2, is fixed (Fig.
3 ) , a,' is a constant and e lies in the range O-
90". The value of C,' can be expected to
vary and by considering a range of possible
values of KO and 4,' the likely variation of
C,' with 0 results. This is shown in Fig. 5 for
4,' = 25" and where values of K Obetween 0.5
and 2 were considered. The value of adhesion
is given in dimensionless terms in relation to
the adhesion for e = 0" (i.e. horizontal
anchor).
To the average adhesion at the anchor inter-
face thc initial shear stress due to the anisotropic
stress state in the ground must be added al-
gebraically to give the average shear stress
~vllichis available. Figure 6 shows the variation
of available shear stress ratio, R, for a range of
KOvalues and within a range 0 < e < 90". The
importance of both e and KO value is clearly
demonstrated and these trends must cast some
doubt on the validity of anchor test result
extrapolation from one inclination to another.
To date the author has been unable to
quantify these trends through a lack of any
 NOTES
field or laboratory test data. The trends must
therefore be cofisidered tentative but it is also
hoped that further thought will be given by
engineers when they use vertical anchor load
tests to design inclined anchors.
That the value of KO can vary over wide
liillits there is no doubt. What effect the instal-
latioil of an anchor has on the s~tbsequent
effective stress field in its vicinity is still un-
known and for this reason no absolute reliance
must be placed in the values shown in Figs. 5
and 6 until they are calibrated by test results.
The trends do show, however, that if an aniso-
tropic stress field exists in the clay near to the
anchor shaft then the pull-out capacity of that
anchor will dcpend on its inclination relative to
the principal stress direction. Similar though
sli~htlymodified trends are to be expected for
anchors with multiplc ~~nder-reams along their
shaft. Much research is required to quantify the
n~echanismof load transfer to the clay and in
particular thc rate of pore water pressure dis-
sipation at the anchor shaft.
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