New Developments in the Modeling and the Design of Geosynthetic Reinforcements of Platforms Subjected to Localized Sinkholes

One of the techniques currently used to reinforce road and railway platforms in areas subjected to localized sinkholes is reinforcement by geosynthetic sheet. To improve the existing design methods, based on simple assumptions, a new approach has been developed, taking better into account the real behavior of this reinforcement, in particular the geosynthetic behavior in anchorage areas and the increase in stress at the edges of the cavity. A numerical study based on the coupling between the finite element method (FEM) and the discrete element method (DEM) was performed to validate the new analytical approach and verify the assumptions. Comparison of the results obtained by this new analytical method with measurements of a full-scale experiment and the results of numerical model confirmed the relevance of these new developments.