Modeling of Geotextile Reinforced Highway Slopes in a Geotechnical Centrifuge

The application of the polymeric reinforcement in the construction of steep reinforced slopes is becoming more common. The mechanisms of failure of these reinforced slopes from internal stability point of view are especially due to: (i) rupture of reinforcement layers and (ii) pull-out failure along the soil-geotextile interface. In this paper these particular failure mechanisms are investigated. Centrifuge tests were carried out on model geotextile reinforced sand slopes at the newly commissioned Beam Centrifuge Facility at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. The lateral displacements of the geotextile reinforced slope and the surface settlement of slope were monitored using LVDT's. Further, the strain distribution along reinforcement layers was analyzed and interpreted. The centrifuge test results were found to give valid information about the behaviour of geotextile reinforced slopes at failure.