Strength and Stiffness Response of Coir Fiber-Reinforced Tropical Soil
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Volume 20, Issue 9
Abstract
Use of natural fibers in civil engineering construction practice is often advantageous as they are cheap, locally available, biodegradable, and ecofriendly. Among the available natural fibers, coir is produced in large quantities in South Asian countries, such as India, Ceylon, Indonesia, Philippines, etc. and has better mechanical properties, such as tensile strength. In this paper, results on the strength and stiffness behavior of soil reinforced with coir fibers are presented. Soil samples reinforced with coir fibers of different sizes, and made into cylindrical soil specimens were tested in triaxial shear apparatus to determine the strength and stiffness of soil response due to fiber inclusion and the results were compared with that of unreinforced soils. The results show that addition of coir (1–2%) as random reinforcing material increases both strength and stiffness of clay soil considered in the study. In addition, available theoretical models for prediction of strength of fiber-reinforced soil are examined in relation to the results of the present investigation. Analysis shows that the available models are not adequate to capture the strength and stiffness response of coir fiber-reinforced soil. A nonlinear regression model for strength and stiffness response is proposed in the present study.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank the reviewers for critical review of the manuscript and constructive suggestions.
References
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 571 - 577
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 1, 2006
Accepted: Jan 30, 2008
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Nader Ghafoori
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