• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.195-211
• /
• 2014

Stone columns (or granular column) have been used to increase the load carrying capacity and accelerating consolidation of soft soil. Recently, the geosynthetic reinforced stone column technique has been developed to improve the load carrying capacity of the stone column. In addition, reinforcement prevents the lateral squeezing of stone in to surrounding soft soil, helps in easy formation of stone column, preserve frictional properties of aggregate and drainage function of the stone column. This paper investigates the improvement of load carrying capacity of isolated ordinary and geotextile reinforced sand column through field load tests. Tests were performed with different reinforcement stiffness, diameter of sand column and reinforcement length. The results of field load test indicated an improved load carrying capacity of geotextile reinforced sand column over ordinary sand column. The increase in load carrying capacity depends upon the sand column diameter, stiffness of reinforcement and reinforcement length. Also, the partial reinforcement length about two to four time's sand column diameter from the top of the column was found to significant effect on the performance of sand column.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.233-240
• /
• 1999

The laboratory tests on geogrid-reinforced sand were conducted with considering embedment effect. The relative densities of sand are 60% and 80%, respectively. The embedment depths of foundation were varied as D$\_$f/B=0, 0.5, 1.0. Based on the model test results, (u/B)$\_$cr/, BCR$\_$u/, and (b/B)$\_$cr/, were determined. The optimum depth of reinforcement was determined. The embedment depth of foundation is greatly contributed on the bearing capacity of geogrid-reinforced sand.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.33-45
• /
• 2014

Use of geotextile as reinforcement material to improve the weak soil is a popular method these days. Tensile strength of geotextile and the soil-geotextile interaction are the major factors which influence the improvement of the soil. Change in fine content within the sand can change the interface behavior between soil and geotextile. In the present paper, the bearing capacity of unreinforced and geotextile-reinforced sand with different percentages of fines has been studied. A series of model tests have been carried out and the load settlement curves are obtained. The ultimate load carrying capacity of unreinforced and reinforced sand with different percentages of fines is compared. The interface behavior of sand and geotextile with various percentages of fines is also studied. It is observed that sand having around 5% of fine is suitable or permissible for bearing capacity improvement due to the application of geosynthetic reinforcement. The effectiveness of the reinforcement in load carrying capacity improvement decreases due to the addition of excessive amount of fines.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.155-174
• /
• 2016

A total of 104 laboratory model tests on a square footing subjected to eccentrically inclined loads supported by sand reinforced with randomly distributed polypropylene fibers were conducted in order to compare the results with those obtained from unreinforced sand and with each other. For conducting the model tests, uniform sand was compacted in a test box at one particular relative density of compaction. The effect of percentage of reinforcement used, thickness of the reinforced layer, angle of inclination of load to vertical and eccentricity of load applied on various prominent factors such as ultimate load, vertical settlement, horizontal deformation and tilt were investigated. An improvement in ultimate load, vertical settlement, horizontal deformation and tilt of foundation was observed with an increase in the percentage of fibers used and thickness of reinforced sand layer under different inclinations and eccentricities of load. A statistical model using non-linear regression analysis based on present experimental data for predicting the vertical settlement ($s_p$), horizontal deformation ($hd_p$) and tilt ($t_p$) of square footing on reinforced sand at any load applied was done where the dependent variable was predicted settlement ($s_p$), horizontal deformation ($hd_p$) and tilt ($t_p$) respectively.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.595-613
• /
• 2015

An experimental investigation into the uplift capacity of horizontal square plate anchors in sand with and without geogrid reinforcement is reported. The parameters investigated are the effect of the depth of the single layer of geogrid, vertical spacing of geogrid layers, number of geogrid layers, length of geogrid layers, the effects of embedment depth, and relative density of sand. A series of three dimensional finite element analyses model was established and confirmed to be effective in capturing the behaviour of plate anchor-reinforced sand by comparing its predictions with experimental results. The results showed that the geogrid reinforcement had a considerable effect on the uplift capacity of horizontal square plate anchors in sand. The improvement in uplift capacity was found to be strongly dependent on the embedment depth and relative density of sand. A satisfactory agreement between the experimental and numerical results on general trend of behaviour and optimum geometry of reinforcement placement is observed. Based on the model test results and the finite element analyses, optimum values of the geogrid parameters for maximum reinforcing effect are discussed and suggested.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.601-618
• /
• 2015

Soil-reinforcement interaction mechanism is an important issue in the design of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures. This mechanism depends on the soil properties, reinforcement characteristics and interaction between these two elements (soil and reinforcement). In this work the shear strength of sand/geotextile interfaces were characterized through direct and simple shear tests. The direct shear tests were performed on a conventional direct shear device and on a large scale direct shear apparatus. Unreinforced sand and one layer reinforced sand specimens were characterized trough simple shear tests. The interfaces shear strength achieved with the large scale direct shear device were slightly larger than those obtained with the conventional direct shear apparatus. Notwithstanding the differences between the shear strength characterization through simple shear and direct shear tests, it was concluded that the shear strength of one layer reinforced sand is similar to the sand/geotextile interface direct shear strength.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.327-336
• /
• 2020

Conventional researches on the behavior of fiber-reinforced and unreinforced soils often investigated the failure point. In this study, a concept is proposed in the comparison of the fiber-reinforced with unreinforced sand, by estimating the strength and strength ratio at different levels of strain. A comprehensive program of laboratory drained triaxial compression test was performed on compacted sand specimens, with and without date palm fiber. The fiber inclusion used in triaxial test specimens was form 0.25%-1.0% of the sand dry weight. The effect of the fiber inclusion and confining pressure at 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 3.0%, 6.0%, 9.0%, 12%, and 15% of the imposed strain levels on the specimen were considered and described. The results showed that, the trend and magnitude of the strength ratio is different for various strain levels. It also implies that, using failure strength from peak point or the strength corresponding to the axial strain of approximately 15% for evaluating the enhancement of strength or strength ratio, due to the reinforcement, may cause hazard and uncertainty in practical design. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the strength of fiber-reinforced specimen at the imposed strain level, compared to the unreinforced specimen.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.329-342
• /
• 2019

In this paper, the effect of a group of sand columns in the loose soil bed using triaxial tests was studied. To investigate the effect of geotextile reinforcement type on the bearing capacity of these sand columns, Vertical encased sand columns (VESCs) and horizontally reinforced sand columns (HRSCs) were used. Number of sixteen independent triaxial tests and finite element simulation were performed on specimens with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 200 mm. Specimens were reinforced by either a single sand column or three sand columns with the same area replacement ratio (16%) to evaluate the Influence of the column arrangement. Effect the number of sand columns, the length of vertical encasement and the number of horizontal reinforcing layers were investigated, in terms of bearing capacity improvement and economy. The results indicated that the ultimate bearing capacity of the samples with three ordinary sand columns (OSCs) is eventually about 11% more than samples with an OSC. Also, comparison of the column reinforcing modes showed that four horizontal layers of geotextile achieved similar performance to a vertical encasement geotextile at the 50% of the column height, from the viewpoint of strength improvement, while from the viewpoint of economy, the geotextile needed for encasing the single column is around 2.5 times of the geotextile required for four layers.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.59-70
• /
• 2005

A series of resonant column test was performed to investigate the dynamic deformation characteristics of silty sand soils mixed with polypropylene fibrillated type fiber. Results show that optimum mixing ratios were $0.2\%$ for 19mm of cut fiber for shear modulus and $0.1\%$ for 60mm cut fiber fur damping ratio. As shear strain was increased, normalized values of shear modulus (G(Reinforced)/ G(Unreinforced)) of fiber reinforced soil were increased up to $10^{-3}\%\~10^{-1}\%$ ranges. However, normalized damping ratio (D(Reinforced/D(Unreinforced)) was diminished with an increase in strain beyond $10^{-3}\%\~10^{-1}\%$ for the damping capacity of soils mixed with fiber. Normalized shear modulus $(G/G_{max})$ obtained from the test was plotted in the chart suggested by Seed and Idriss. The shear modulus of silty sand was located between sand and gravel curves.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.28 no.4C
• /
• pp.213-220
• /
• 2008

A study on cemented sand reinforced with short fibers was carried out to improve its unconfined compressive strength and brittle behavior. Nak-dong River sand was mixed with Portland cement and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers. A PVA fiber widely used for concrete reinforcement is randomly distributed into cemented sand. Nak-dong River sand, cement and fibers with optimum water content were compacted in 5 layers and then cured for 7 days. The effect of fiber reinforcement rather than cementation was emphasized by using a small amount of cement. Weakly cemented sand with a cement/sand ratio less than 8% was fiber-reinforced with different fiber ratios and tested for unconfined compression tests. The effect of fiber ratio and cement ratio on unconfined compressive strength was investigated. Fiber-reinforced cemented sand with 2% cement ratio showed up to six times strength to non-reinforced cemented sand. Because of ductile behavior of fiber-reinforced specimens, an axial strain at peak stress of specimens with 2% cement ratio increases up to 7% as a fiber ratio increases. The effect of 1% fiber addition into 2% cemented sand on friction angle and cohesion was analyzed separately. When the fiber reinforcement is related to friction angle increase, the 8% of applied stress transferred to 1% fibers within specimens.