Effects of Grain Size and Moisture Content on the Strength of Geogrid-Reinforced Sand in Direct Shear Mode
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Volume 22, Issue 4
Abstract
In this study, the effects of grain size and moisture content on the interface shear strength of sandy soils against a polypropylene biaxial geogrid were evaluated using a large-scale shearing device. Soil specimens with various maximum grain sizes (2.0–13.2 mm) and moisture contents (5%–11%) were sheared against the geogrid at normal stress values of 250–750 kPa. The interface shear strength was primarily influenced by the soil’s internal shear strength, the friction between the soil and the geosynthetic plane surface, and the resistance provided by the transverse ribs. The results indicated that the shear strength of the soil–geogrid interface decreased as the maximum grain size of the soil decreased. The lower interface shear strength was primarily a consequence of the reduced internal shear strength and friction. The internal shear strength contributed more than 50% of the shear strength of the soil–geogrid interface, whereas the contributions from the friction or transverse ribs were less than 30%. The transverse ribs provided effective resistance when the median of the particle size distribution was greater than the thickness of the transverse ribs. Increasing the soil moisture content reduced the interface shear strength, especially when the moisture content exceeded the optimal moisture content. Increasing the moisture content also negatively impacted the bearing resistance of the transverse ribs.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB1200401) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41701347).
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- A
- aperture size of the geogrid (mm2);
- Cc
- curvature coefficient of soil (dimensionless);
- Cu
- unevenness coefficient of soil (dimensionless);
- Dmax
- maximum grain size of soil specimens (mm);
- D10
- 10% finer from the grain size distribution (mm);
- D30
- 30% finer from the grain size distribution (mm);
- D50
- median of the particle size distributions (mm);
- D60
- 60% finer from the grain size distribution (mm);
- Ns
- normalized shear strength (dimensionless);
- RB
- resistance provided by the transverse rib;
- Rsoil/geogrid
- overall shear resistance of the soil–geogrid interface;
- R2
- coefficient of determination (dimensionless);
- Tg
- tensile strength (kN/m);
- TL
- thickness of the longitudinal rib (mm);
- TT
- thickness of the transverse rib (mm);
- W
- length of the transverse rib (mm);
- wopt
- optimum moisture content (%);
- wc
- = moisture content (%);
- ατ
- interface shear strength coefficient (dimensionless);
- βB
- contributions of resistance by the transverse rib (kN/m);
- γd
- max dry unit weight (kN/m3);
- σ
- normal stress (kPa);
- ρ
- percent open area (%);
- τ
- shear strength (kPa);
- τG
- shear strength of soil at any Dmax (kN/m);
- τO
- soil internal shear strength at original gradation (kN/m);
- τsoil/geogrid
- interface shear strength of soil–geogrid (kN/m);
- τsoil
- internal shear strength of soil (kN/m); and
- τsoil/geosythetic
- shear strength of soil with the plane surface of the geogrid (kN/m).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22 • Issue 4 • April 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 14, 2021
Accepted: Nov 17, 2021
Published online: Jan 27, 2022
Published in print: Apr 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jun 27, 2022
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