Effect of Soil Moisture Content and Dry Density on Cohesive Soil–Geosynthetic Interactions Using Large Direct Shear Tests
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 7
Abstract
Geosynthetics have increasingly been used to reinforce many earth structures and are now a well-accepted means to improve engineering properties of various types of soil. However, most previous studies and applications of geosynthetic stabilization are confined to noncohesive soils. Few research efforts have been dedicated to the feasibility and benefits of geosynthetic reinforcement on cohesive soils. This paper presents the results of an extensive laboratory testing program using a large direct shear device, in which four different soils (including one sand and three clays of different plasticities) were reinforced by three different geogrids and one woven geotextile. Reinforcement mechanisms were analyzed and the soil–geosynthetic interface parameters were obtained from the testing results. The increase in molding moisture content and/or decrease in dry density caused an appreciable reduction in interface shear resistance, which suggests that it should be more rational to use interface parameters of soils at their 95% maximum dry density and moisture content 2% above their optimum values. This study also provides a basis for future research and modeling the behavior between cohesive soils and geosynthetics.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The work presented herein is part of a research project sponsored by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LA-DOTD). The writers gratefully acknowledge the help and advice of Zhongjie Zhang and Gavin Gautreau of LTRC.
References
Alfaro, M. C., Miura, N., and Bergado, D. T. (1995). “Soil-geogrid reinforcement interaction by pullout and direct shear tests.” Geotech. Test. J., 18(2), 157–167.
ASTM. (2001). “Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soils using standard effort .” ASTM D 698, Annual book of ASTM standards, Vol. 4.08, West Conshohocken, Pa.
ASTM. (2003). “Standard test method for determining the coefficient of soil and geosynthetic or geosynthetic and geosynthetic friction by the direct shear method.” ASTM D 5321, Annual book of ASTM standards, Vol. 4.09, West Conshohocken, Pa.
Bergado, D. T., Chai, J. C., Abiera, H. O., Alfaro, M. C., and Balasubramaniam, A. S. (1993). “Interaction between cohesive-frictional soil and various grid reinforcements.” Geotext. Geomembr., 12(4), 327–349.
Bergado, D. T., Shivashankar, R., Sampaco, C. L., and Alfaro, M. C. (1991). “Behavior of a welded wire wall with poor quality, cohesive-friction backfills on soft Bangkok clay: A case study.” Can. Geotech. J., 28(7), 860–880.
Coronel, J. J. (2005). “Interaction properties between geomaterials and geosynthetics.” MS thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, La.
Cowell, M. J., and Sprague, C. J. (1993). “Comparison of pull-out performance of geogrids and geotextiles.” Geosynthetics’93, 579–592.
Farrag, K. (1995). “Effect of moisture content on the interaction properties of geosynthetics.” Geosynthetics’95, 1031–1041.
Farrag, K., and Griffin, P. (1993). “Pull-out testing in cohesive soils, geosynthetic soil reinforcement testing procedures.” ASTM STP No. 1190, West Conshohocken, Pa., 76–89.
Farrag, K., and Morvant, M. (2003a). “Evaluation of interaction properties of geosynthetics in cohesive soils: LTRC reinforced-soil test wall.” Rep. No. FHWA/LA 03/379, Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Farrag, K., and Morvant, M. (2003b). “Evaluation of interaction properties of geosynthetics in cohesive soils: lab and field pullout tests.” Rep. No. FHWA/LA 03/380, Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Holtz, R. D. (1977). “Laboratory studies of reinforced earth using a woven polyester fabric.” Proc., Int. Conf. on the Use of Fabrics in Geotechnics, Paris, 149–154.
Keller, G. R. (1995). “Experiences with mechanically stabilized structures and native soil backfill.” Transportation Research Record. 1474, 30–38.
Koutsourais, M., Sandri, D., and Swan, R. (1998). “Soil interaction characteristics of geotextiles and geogrids.” Geosynthetics ’98, 739–744.
Lopes, M. L. (2002). “Soil-geosynthetic interaction.” Geosynthetics and their applications, S. K. Shukla, ed., Thomas Telford, London.
Mitchell, J. K., Seed, R. B., and Seed, H. B. (1990). “Kettleman Hills waste landfill slope failure. I: Liner-system properties.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 116(4), 647–668.
Mitchell, J. K., and Zornberg, J. G. (1995). “Reinforced soil structures with poorly draining backfills. Part II: Case histories and applications.” Geosynthet. Int., 2(1), 265–307.
Tatlisoz, N., Edil, T., and Benson, C. (1998). “Interaction between reinforcing geosynthetics and soil-tire chip mixtures.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(11), 1109–1119.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 8, 2005
Accepted: Nov 27, 2006
Published online: Jul 1, 2007
Published in print: Jul 2007
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Shin-Che Huang
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.