Performance of Fiber Reinforcement in Completely Decomposed Granite
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 8
Abstract
Adding discrete fibers to soils can improve their strength; however, fiber reinforcement remains scarce in practice. Previous studies on the performance of soils reinforced with discrete fibers consist mainly of laboratory studies with either clay or, most often, uniform sand as the host soil, so there is a lack of data on other types of soils such as weathered soils, which tend to be well graded. Unlike uniform soils, which are generally dilative, well-graded soils usually show a contractive behavior. This study examines the effect of adding fibers to a completely decomposed granite (CDG) typical of many residual soils, which has the characteristics to be sensitive to material and sample preparation and also to be compressive during shearing. It is found that adding discrete fibers to the CDG homogenizes it because the reinforced soil is not sensitive to the method of material or sample preparation. It is also found that, despite its compressive nature, fibers mobilize extra strength compared with the unreinforced soil, and this effect does not reduce at large confining stresses.
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Acknowledgments
This research was made possible thanks to the financial support provided by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (grant GRF No. 710211). The authors are also indebted to Professor Nilo Consoli from the University Federal of Rio Grande do Sul for providing the fibers.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 8 • August 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 8, 2016
Accepted: Jan 24, 2017
Published online: Apr 11, 2017
Published in print: Aug 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 11, 2017
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