Effect of Microreinforcement of Soils from Very Small to Large Shear Strains
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 8
Abstract
Previous studies of fiber soil reinforcement have shown significant improvement of the mechanical properties of soils, such as increased peak and postpeak strength, ductility, and tenacity. However, studies of such materials have thus far been restricted to small to intermediate shear strains of approximately 0.1–20%, due to the restrictions of the standard equipment used (e.g., triaxial and direct shear tests). The objective of the present research was to study the behavior of fiber-reinforced soils ranging from very small shear strains to very large displacements, to determine what effect reinforcement would have on the initial stiffness, and also whether the improved strength would eventually deteriorate. Bender element and ring shear tests were carried out, as well as standard triaxial tests, in order to investigate the effect of fiber microreinforcement of three different soils over a wide range of strains and displacements. A silty sand, a uniform sand, and a bottom ash were used as matrixes, in which 0.5% (by weight) polypropylene fibers were inserted that were 24 mm in length and 0.023 mm thick. The results show a marked influence of fiber reinforcement on the ultimate strength, with no loss in shear strength, even at very large horizontal displacements. At very small strains, the introduction of polypropylene fibers did not influence the initial stiffness of the materials studied.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to express their gratitude to CNPq-National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (Project Nos. UNSPECIFIED300832/2004–4, Edital Universal 2004 and UNSPECIFIED471396/2003–6) and CAPES (ProDoc/2002 program) for financial support to the research group.
References
Al-Refeai, T. O. (1991). “Behavior of granular soils reinforced with discrete randomly oriented inclusions.” Geotext. Geomembr., 10, 319–333.
American Society for Testing and Materials. (ASTM), (1993). “Standard classification of soils for engineering purposes.” ASTM D 2487-93, Philadelphia.
Bishop, A. W., Green, G. E., Garga, V. K., Andersen, A., and Brown, J. D. (1971). “A new ring shear apparatus and its application to the measurement of residual strength.” Geotechnique, 21(4), 273–328.
Brazilian Standard Association. (1987). “Standard on solid residues.” NBR 10004, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (in Portuguese).
Clayton, C. R. I., and Khatrush, S. A. (1986). “A new device for measuring local axial strains on triaxial specimens.” Geotechnique, 36(4), 593–597.
Clayton, C. R. I., Khatrush, S. A., Bica, A. V. D., and Siddique, A. (1989). “The use of Hall effect semiconductor in geotechnical instrumentation.” Geotech. Test. J., 13(3), 235–242.
Consoli, N. C., Casagrande, M. D. T., Prietto, P. D. M., and Thomé, A. (2003a) “Plate load test on fiber-reinforced soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(10), 951–955.
Consoli, N. C., Montardo, J. P., Prietto, P. D. M., and Pasa, G. S. (2002). “Engineering behavior of a sand reinforced with plastic waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 128(6), 462–472.
Consoli, N. C., Prietto, P. D. M., and Ulbrich, L. A. (1998). “The influence of fiber and cement addition on behavior of a sandy soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(12), 1211–1214.
Consoli, N. C., Vendruscolo, M. A., and Prietto, P. D. M. (2003b) “Behavior of plate load tests on soil layers improved with cement and fiber.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(1), 96–102.
Dyvik, R., and Madshus, C. (1985). “Lab measurements of using bender elements.” Proc., Advances in the Art of Testing Soils under Cyclic Conditions, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York.
Gray, D. H., and Al-Refeai, T. (1986). “Behavior of fabric versus fiber-reinforced sand.” J. Geotech. Eng., 112(8), 804–820.
Gray, D. H., and Ohashi, H. (1983). “Mechanics of fiber reinforcement in sand.” J. Geotech. Eng., 109(3), 335–353.
Heineck, K. S., and Consoli, N. C. (2004). “Discussion of ‘discrete framework for limit equilibrium analysis of fibre-reinforced soil’ by J. G. Zornberg.” Geotechnique, 54(1), 72–73.
Jovicic, V., and Coop, M. R. (1997). “Stiffness of coarse-grained soils at small strains.” Geotechnique, 47(3), 545–561.
Jovicic, V., Coop, M. R., and Simic, M. (1996). “Objective criteria for determining from bender element tests.” Geotechnique, 46(2), 357–362.
Ladd, R. S. (1978). “Preparing test specimens using undercompaction.” Geotech. Test. J., 1(1), 16–23.
La Rochelle, P., Leroueil, S., Trak, B., Blais-Leroux, L., and Tavenas, F. (1988). “Observational approach to membrane and area corrections in triaxial tests.” Proc., Symp. on Advanced Triaxial Testing of Soil and Rock, ASTM, Louisville, Ky., 715–731.
Lemos, L. J. L., and Vaughan, P. R. (2000). “Clay-interface shear resistance.” Geotechnique, 50(1), 55–64.
Lupini, J. F., Skinner, A. E., and Vaughan, P. R. (1981). “The drained residual strength of cohesive soils.” Geotechnique, 31(2), 181–213.
Maher, M. H., and Gray, D. H. (1990). “Static response of sands reinforced with randomly distributed fibers.” J. Geotech. Eng., 116(11), 1661–1677.
Maher, M. H., and Ho, Y. C. (1994). “Mechanical properties of kaolinite/fiber soil composite.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(8), 1381–1393.
Maher, M. H., and Woods, R. D. (1990). “Dynamic response of sands reinforced with randomly distributed fibers.” J. Geotech. Eng., 116(7), 1116–1131.
Martins, F. B. (2001). “Mechanical behavior of an artificially cemented soil.” PhD thesis, Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (in Portuguese).
Maswoswe, J. J. (1985). “Stress path method for a compacted soil during collapse due to wetting.” PhD thesis, Univ. of London, London.
Michalowski, R. L., and Cermák, J. (2003). “Triaxial compression of sand reinforced with fibers.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(2), 125–136.
Michalowski, R. L., and Zhao, A. (1996). “Failure of fiber-reinforced granular soils.” J. Geotech. Eng., 122(3), 226–234.
Morel, J. C., and Gourc, J. P. (1997). “Mechanical behavior of sand reinforced with mesh elements.” Geosynthet. Int., 4(5), 481–508.
Ranjan, G., Vasan, R. M., and Charan, H. D. (1994). “Behaviour of plastic fibre-reinforced sand.” Geotext. Geomembr., 13, 555–565.
Roscoe, K. H., and Burlnad, J. B. (1968). “On the generalised stress: strain behaviour of “wet” clay.” Engineering plasticity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 535–609.
Shirley, D. J., and Hampton, L. D. (1977). “Shear-wave measurements in laboratory sediments.” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 63(2), 607–613.
Taylor, R. N., and Coop, M. R. (1990). “Stress path testing of Boom Clay from Mol, Belgium.” Proc., 26th Annual Conf. of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 89–98.
Thomé, A. (1999). “Behavior of spread footings bearing on lime stabilized layers.” PhD thesis, Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (in Portuguese).
Viggiani, G., and Atkinson, J. H. (1995). “Stiffness of fine-grained soils at very small strains.” Geotechnique, 45(2), 249–265.
Zornberg, J. G. (2002). “Discrete framework for limit equilibrium analysis of fibre-reinforced soil.” Geotechnique, 52(8), 593–604.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 8 • August 2005
Pages: 1024 - 1033
Copyright
© ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2003
Accepted: Nov 9, 2004
Published online: Aug 1, 2005
Published in print: Aug 2005
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.