9313085 Bourdeau The objective of this research is to develop an analytical procedure to assess the stresses and the resulting settlement induced in geotechnical structures by mechanical interference between their components. The procedure will be developed for the cases of interference between footings, interference between retaining walls and footings resting on the backfill. The procedure will be extended to modeling the mechanism of surface applied load transmission in reinforced soil retaining walls. The applicability of the proposed model will be evaluated by performing scale model experiments with x-ray imaging of the deformation field and using test results in the literature. The likelihood of interference of geotechnical structures, and its consequence on their performance will be assessed at the design stage, and a criterion will be formulated. ***
