Bearing capacity of square footings on geosynthetic reinforced sand

The results from laboratory model tests and numerical simulations on square footings resting on sand are presented. Bearing capacity of footings on geosynthetic reinforced sand is evaluated and the effect of various reinforcement parameters like the type and tensile strength of geosynthetic material, amount of reinforcement, layout and configuration of geosynthetic layers below the footing on the bearing capacity improvement of the footings is studied through systematic model studies. A steel tank of size 900 × 900 × 600 mm is used for conducting model tests. Four types of grids, namely strong biaxial geogrid, weak biaxial geogrid, uniaxial geogrid and a geonet, each with different tensile strength, are used in the tests. Geosynthetic reinforcement is provided in the form of planar layers, varying the depth of reinforced zone below the footing, number of geosynthetic layers within the reinforced zone and the width of geosynthetic layers in different tests. Influence of all these parameters on the bearing capacity improvement of square footing and its settlement is studied by comparing with the test on unreinforced sand. Results show that the effective depth of reinforcement is twice the width of the footing and optimum spacing of geosynthetic layers is half the width of the footing. It is observed that the layout and configuration of reinforcement play a vital role in bearing capacity improvement rather than the tensile strength of the geosynthetic material. Experimental observations are supported by the findings from numerical analyses.     

An experimental evaluation of the behavior of footings on geosynthetic-reinforced sand

This research was performed to investigate the behavior of geosynthetic-reinforced sandy soil foundations and to study the effect of different parameters contributing to their performance using laboratory model tests. The parameters investigated in this study included top layer spacing, number of reinforcement layers, vertical spacing between layers, tensile modulus and type of geosynthetic reinforcement, embedment depth, and shape of footing. The effect of geosynthetic reinforcement on the vertical stress distribution in the sand and the strain distribution along the reinforcement were also investigated. The test results demonstrated the potential benefit of using geosynthetic-reinforced sand foundations. The test results also showed that the reinforcement configuration/layout has a very significant effect on the behavior of reinforced sand foundation. With two or more layers of reinforcement, the settlement can be reduced by 20% at all footing pressure levels. Sand reinforced by the composite of geogrid and geotextile performed better than those reinforced by geogrid or geotextile alone. The inclusion of reinforcement can redistribute the applied footing load to a more uniform pattern, hence reducing the stress concentration, which will result reduced settlement. Finally, the results of model tests were compared with the analytical solution developed by the authors in previous studies; and the analytical solution gave a good predication of the experimental results of footing on geosynthetic reinforced sand.     

Behaviour of geogrid reinforced soil retaining wall with concrete-rigid facing

Monitoring was carried out during construction of a cast-in-situ concrete-rigid facing geogrid reinforced soil retaining wall in the Gan (Zhou)-Long (Yan) railway main line of China. The monitoring included the vertical foundation pressure and lateral earth pressure of the reinforced soil wall facing, the tensile strain in the reinforcement and the horizontal deformation of the facing. The vertical foundation pressure of reinforced soil retaining wall is non-linear along the reinforcement length, and the maximum value is at the middle of the reinforcement length, moreover the value reduces gradually at top and bottom. The measured lateral earth pressure within the reinforced soil wall is non-linear along the height and the value is less than the active lateral earth pressure. The distribution of tensile strain in the geogrid reinforcements within the upper portion of the wall is single-peak value, but the distribution of tensile strain in the reinforcements within the lower portion of the wall has double-peak values. The potential failure plane within the upper portion of the wall is similar to “0.3H method”, whereas the potential failure plane within portion of the lower wall is closer to the active Rankine earth pressure theory. The position of the maximum lateral displacement of the wall face during construction is within portion of the lower wall, moreover the position of the maximum lateral displacement of the wall face post-construction is within the portion of the top wall. These monitoring results of the behaviour of the wall can be used as a reference for future study and design of geogrid reinforced soil retaining wall systems.     

Behavior of geogrid–reinforced sand and effect of reinforcement anchorage in large-scale plane strain compression

This paper presents experimental investigations on the behavior of geogrid–reinforced sand featuring reinforcement anchorage which simulates the reinforcement connected to the wall facings in numerous in-situ situations. A series of large plane strain compression tests (the specimen 56 cm high × 56 cm wide × 45 cm long) was conducted. Standard Ottawa sand and 4 types of PET geogrids exhibiting 5% stiffness in the range of 750–1700 kN/m were used in this study. The specimens were tested by varying the relative density of sand, confining pressures, geogrid types, and reinforcement-anchorage conditions. Experimental results indicate that relative to unreinforced specimens, both anchored and non-anchored geogrid reinforcements can enhance the peak shear strength and suppress the volumetric dilation of reinforced soil. The studies on anchorage revealed that anchoring the reinforcement can restrain the lateral expansion of reinforced specimens, resulting in a substantial increase in shear strength and a reduction in volumetric dilation. The strength ratios of non-anchored specimens appeared to be insensitive to the reinforcement stiffness, whereas the strength ratios of the anchored specimens increased markedly with increases in soil density, reinforcement stiffness, and system deformation (i.e., axial stain). Geogrid anchorage contributed a large percentage of the total shear-strength improvement, nearly 3-times more than the contribution of the soil–geogrid interaction in non-anchored specimens. Lastly, an analytical model was developed based on the concept that additional confinement is induced by reinforcement anchorage, and the predicted shear strength of the anchored soil was verified based on the experimental data.     

Load-settlement response of shallow square footings on geogrid-reinforced sand under cyclic loading

To study the settlement and dynamic response characteristics of shallow square footings on geogrid-reinforced sand under cyclic loading, 7 sets of large scale laboratory tests are performed on a 0.5?m wide square footing resting on unreinforced and geogrid reinforced sand contained in a 3?m?×?1.6?m?×?2?m (length?×?width?×?height) steel tank. Different reinforcing schemes are considered in the tests: one layer of reinforcement at the depth of 0.3B, 0.6B and 0.9B, where B is the width of the footing; two and three layers of reinforcement at the depth and spacing both at 0.3B. In one of the two double layered reinforcing systems, the reinforcements are wrapped around at the ends. The footings are loaded to 160?kPa under static loading before applying cyclic loading. The cyclic loadings are applied at 40?kPa amplitude increments. Each loading stage lasts for 10?min at the frequency of 2?Hz, or until failure, whichever occurs first. The settlement of the footing, strain in the reinforcement and acceleration rate in the soil have been monitored during the tests. The results showed that the ultimate bearing capacity of the footings was affected by the number and layout of the reinforcements, and the increment of bearing capacity does not always increase with the number of reinforcement layers. The layout of the reinforcement layers affected the failure mechanisms of the footings. Including more layers of reinforcement could greatly reduce the dynamic response of the foundations under cyclic loading. In terms of bearing capacity improvement, including one layer of reinforcement at the depth of 0.6B was the optimum based on the test results. It is found that fracture of geogrid could occur under cyclic loading if the reinforcement is too shallow, i.e. for the cases with the first layer of reinforcement at 0.3B depth.     

Hydro-mechanical behavior of geogrid reinforced soil barriers of landfill cover systems

This paper examines the hydro-mechanical behavior of soil barriers with and without the inclusion of geogrid reinforcement within the soil barrier of landfill cover systems. The effect of geogrid type on the deformation behavior of the soil barrier subjected to various ranges of distortion levels was examined through centrifuge tests carried out at 40 g. An overburden pressure equivalent to that of landfill cover systems was applied to all the soil barriers tested in this study. The performance of the soil barrier with and without geogrid layer was assessed by measuring water breakthrough at the onset of differential settlements during centrifuge tests. Un-reinforced soil barriers of 0.6 m and 1.2 m thickness were observed to experience single narrow cracks penetrating up to full -depth of soil barriers at distortion levels of 0.056 and 0.069 respectively. In comparison, soil barriers reinforced with geogrids restrained cracking better than unreinforced soil barriers. However, degree of restraining of cracks in the soil barriers was found to be strongly depending on the geogrid type and the thickness of the soil barrier. Limiting distortion levels for 0.6 m and 1.2 m thick soil barriers reinforced with a low strength geogrid was found to be 0.095 and 0.108 respectively. When the soil barrier of both thicknesses was reinforced with a geogrid having relatively high tensile load-strain characteristics, the integrity of the geogrid reinforced soil barrier was observed to be retained even after inducing a distortion level of 0.125. The results from the present study suggest that the hydro-mechanical behavior of the soil barriers can be improved with a suitable geogrid layer having adequate tensile load-strain characteristics.     

Field behaviors of a geogrid reinforced MSW slope in a high-food-waste-content MSW landfill: A case study

A one-year field monitoring of a geogrid reinforced municipal solid waste (MSW) slope was conducted in the Xingfeng Landfill. Settlement tubes, strain gauges and earth pressure cells were used to measure the vertical settlement, the reinforcement strains and the vertical earth pressures in the reinforced MSW slope, respectively. During the monitoring period, the waste sliding occurred and the fresh MSW was dumped at the top of the reinforced slope. The vertical settlement along the reinforcement was nonlinear and the peak settlement occurred at the central part of the reinforcement. The reinforcement strains and the vertical earth pressures at various positions were affected by the sliding and the waste dumping to differing extents. Along the lengths of the geogrid reinforcements, the reinforcement strains showed single-peak distributions. The peak strains were attained in the central part of the reinforcements and the minimum strains were attained at the tail ends. The vertical earth pressures mainly depend on the overlying loads; however, the distributions of them along the reinforcement were nonlinear. Based on the monitoring results, the slope stability evaluation was conducted. It shows that the internal stability of the reinforced MSW slope might be sufficient, while the external stability was insufficient, meaning that this reinforced project was unsuccessful. Finally, various lessons and design suggestions learned from this unsuccessful project were discussed, which could provide valuable references for the future practice of geosynthetic reinforced MSW.     

格栅条带式加筋胎面挡土墙变形性能数值计算

采用土工格栅加筋的方法提高废旧轮胎挡墙的承载性能,促进废旧轮胎挡墙的推广应用,通过数值计算方法分析了不同墙顶荷载下有无土工格栅加筋的废旧轮胎挡墙的水平变形与竖向沉降反应特征,得出铺设土工格栅加筋的方法可显著减小墙体的水平变形和竖向沉降,提高废旧轮胎挡墙结构的承载能力,随着外荷载的增加,墙体变形模式依次呈凹凸微小变化型、“弯弓”型、“似弯弓”型和“鼓腮”型和直线型。考虑土工格栅的加筋长度、竖向加筋间距以及格栅加筋刚度3种因素对废旧轮胎+土工格栅加筋土挡墙的水平变形的影响,得出在废旧轮胎加筋土挡墙设计中,建议土工格栅的加筋长度选取范围为0.5H～0.7H,土工格栅竖向间距的选取范围为0.4 m~0.7 m,格栅刚度不宜大于5 000 kN/m。     

DIA of centrifuge model tests on geogrid reinforced soil walls with low-permeable backfills subjected to rainfall

Geogrid reinforced soil walls (GRSWs) constructed using low-permeable backfills often experience failures when subjected to rainfall. The objective of this paper is to employ centrifuge modelling to investigate the effect of geogrid types on the performance of GRSW models constructed with low-permeable backfill, when subjected to rainfall intensity of 10 mm/h. A 4.5 m radius large beam centrifuge facility was used, and rainfall was simulated using a custom-designed rainfall simulator at 40 gravities. Digital Image Analysis (DIA) was employed to understand the deformation behaviour of GRSWs with low stiffness geogrid layers with and without drainage provision subjected to rainfall. Additionally, the effect of varying stiffness of geogrid reinforcement layers across the height of GRSW was also investigated. The interpretation of DIA helped to quantify displacement vector fields, face movements, surface settlement profiles and geogrid strain distribution with depth. Irrespective of drainage provision, GRSWs reinforced with low stiffness geogrid layers experienced a catastrophic failure at the onset of rainfall. However, GRSW reinforced with geogrid layers of varying stiffness was observed to perform well. This study demonstrates the effective use of DIA of GRSWs subjected to rainfall along with centrifuge-based physical model testing.     

Performance of a 33m high geogrid reinforced soil embankment without concrete panel

Geosynthetic reinforced soil embankment are extensively applied in the construction of high-speed railway and highway in mountainous regions but limited field monitoring is conducted on high and steep cases. Aiming to acquire better understanding, a 33-m-high single-tiered wrapped-facing geogrid reinforced soil embankment with the slope of 1 V:0.5H in China was monitored for 2 years during and after construction. Vertical earth pressure, strain of geogrids, horizontal displacement and settlement per layer were recorded and analysed. The results show that the geogrid tensile strains gradually increased during construction. And they were still developing after completion due to creep and subsequent vehicle surcharge load. The predictions of reinforcement loads by the FHWA methods were much higher than the estimated ones from measured strains. The vertical earth pressures linearly grew during construction and then stabilized fast. The horizontal displacement increases with height and the largest value achieved around the top of the slope two years after the construction is 0.14% the total height approximately. The settlement per layer is larger in the lower and middle portion of the embankment and no obvious change is observed over time. This study hopes to serve as a case reference for design and construction of similar reinforcement projects in the future.     

Experimental and numerical analysis of large scale pull out tests conducted on clays reinforced with geogrids encapsulated with coarse material

The pullout test is one of the methods commonly used to study pullout behavior of reinforcements. In the current research, large pullout tests (i.e. 100 × 60 × 60 cm) have been conducted to investigate the possibility of pullout resistance enhancement of clays reinforced with HDPE geogrid embedded in thin layers of sand. Pullout tests on clay–geogrid, sand–geogrid and clay–sand–geogrid samples have been conducted at normal pressures of 25, 50 and 100 kPa. Numerical modeling using finite element method has also been used to assess the adequacy of the box and geogrid sizes to minimize boundary and scale effects. Experimental results show that provision of thin sand layers around the reinforcement substantially enhances pullout resistance of clay soil under monotonic loading conditions and the effectiveness increases with increase in normal pressures. The improvement is more pronounced at higher normal pressures and an optimum sand layer thickness of 8 cm has been determined for maximum enhancement. Results of numerical analysis showed the adequacy of the box and geogrid length adopted as well as a relatively good agreement with experimental results.     

Load sharing characteristics of rigid facing walls with geogrid reinforced railway subgrade during and after construction

Reinforced subgrade for railways (RSR) is a construction method in which reinforced subgrade is constructed first and a rigid facing wall later to minimize the residual settlement after the service of a roadbed. The RSR was designed and constructed at Osong railway test line in Korea. In this study, load sharing capacities from the reinforced subgrade to the rigid facing wall of it were evaluated through long-term measurement, extending 22 months from the start of roadbed construction to the completion of track construction. Under the condition of 0.4 m geogrid vertical spacing installation, the load sharing proportion of horizontal earth pressure of the rigid facing wall was 9%–22% in the lower part, and lesser in the upper part. The strain of geogrid during construction was 0.607%, which was relatively lower than the designed geogrid tensile strain of 5%. The change in geogrid strain after construction was closely correlated with temperature change in the soil.     

Behavior of closely spaced square and circular footings on reinforced sand

This paper describes an experimental investigation conducted to evaluate the ultimate bearing capacity, the settlement and the tilt of two types closely spaced footings, one having square shapes and the other having circular shapes, on unreinforced and reinforced soil. To decrease the objectionable influence of interference on the performance of the closely spaced footings, the foundation soil is reinforced by geogrid layers. The results of this reinforcement show both positive and negative effects, namely, a positive effect because there is a considerable increase in the ultimate bearing capacity, and a negative effect because there is an increase in settlement and tilt. Regarding the experimental results, the negative effect of interference can be decreased considerably through the use of soil reinforcements. The ultimate bearing capacity of the interfering footings increased by about 25–40%, whereas the settlement of the interfering footings at the ultimate load increased in the range of 60–100%. However, the closely spaced footings tilted by approximately 45% and 75% for reinforced sand with one and two layers of geogrid, respectively.     

Effect of particle shape on the response of geogrid-reinforced systems: Insights from 3D discrete element analysis

Understanding soil-geogrid interaction is essential for the analysis and design of reinforced soil systems. Modeling this interaction requires proper consideration for the geogrid geometry and the particulate nature of the backfill soil. This is particularly true when angular soil particles (e.g. crushed limestone) are used as a backfill material. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) discrete element model that is capable of capturing the response of unconfined and soil-confined geogrid material is developed and used to study the response of crushed limestone reinforced with geogrid and subjected to surface loading. The 3D shape of the crushed limestone is modeled by tracing the surface areas of a typical particle and fitting a number of bonded spheres into the generated surface. Model calibration is performed using triaxial tests to determine the microparameters that allow for the stress-strain behaviour of the backfill material to be replicated. To demonstrate the role of particle shape on the soil-geogrid interaction, the analysis is also performed using spherical particles and the calculated response is compared with that obtained using modeled surfaces. The biaxial geogrid used in this study is also modeled using the discrete element method and the unconfined response is compared with the available index test results. This study suggests that modeling the 3D geogrid geometry is important to accurately capture the geogrid response under both confined and unconfined conditions. Accounting for the particle shape in the analysis can significantly enhance the predicted response of the geogrid-soil system. The modeling approach proposed in this study can be adapted for other reinforced soil applications.     

Load eccentricity effects on behavior of circular footings reinforced with geogrid sheets

In this paper,an experimental study for an eccentrically loaded circular footing,resting on a geogrid reinforced sand bed,is performed.To achieve this aim,the steel model footing of 120 mm in diameter and sand in relative density of 60%are used.Also,the effects of depth of first and second geogrid layers and number of reinforcement layers(1-4) on the settlement-load response and tilt of footing under various load eccentricities(0 cm,0.75 cm,1.5 cm,2.25 cm and 3 cm) are investigated.Test results indicate that ultimate bearing capacity increases in comparison with unreinforced condition.It is observed that when the reinforcements are placed in the optimum embedment depth(u/D = 0.42 and h/D = 0.42),the bearing capacity ratio(BCR) increases with increasing load eccentricity to the core boundary of footing,and that with further increase of load eccentricity,the BCR decreases.Besides,the tilt of footing increases linearly with increasing settlement.Finally,by reinforcing the sand bed,the tilt of footing decreases at 2layers of reinforcement and then increases by increasing the number of reinforcement layers.     

土工格栅加筋垫层的效果检验

泉州市两个古建筑城门楼工程(朝天门和临漳门)对沉降敏感,原设计采用桩基础加钢筋混凝土板的地基加固方案,因其造价昂贵,施工困难,而改为土工格栅加筋垫层的方案。由于当地首次采用加筋垫层,为了检验其效果,进行了多达21组载荷试验,并进行了沉降观测。结果表明,土工格栅加筋垫层可使地基承载力成倍提高,同时能有效地均衡差异沉降和减少总沉降量。建筑物的实际沉降非常小,朝天门城门楼的最大沉降量不超过1cm,临漳门则几乎测不出沉降量,完全能满足工程要求,由此节省了300多万元资金,并使施工大为简化。     

Physical and numerical modelling of strip footing on geogrid reinforced transparent sand

This paper presents the results of laboratory scale plate load tests on transparent soils reinforced with biaxial polypropylene geogrids. The influence of reinforcement length and number of reinforcement layers on the load-settlement response of the reinforced soil foundation was assessed by varying the reinforcement length and the number of geogrid layers, each spaced at 25% of footing width. The deformations of the reinforcement layers and soil under strip loading were examined with the aid of laser transmitters (to illuminate the geogrid reinforcement) and digital camera. A two-dimensional finite difference program was used to study the fracture of geogrid under strip loading considering the geometry of the model tests. The bearing capacity and stiffness of the reinforced soil foundation has increased with the increase in the reinforcement length and number of reinforcement layers, but the increase is more prominent by increasing number of reinforcement layers. The results from the physical and numerical modelling on reinforced soil foundation reveal that fracture of geogrid could initiate in the bottom layer of reinforcement and progress to subsequent upper layers. The displacement and stress contours along with the mobilized tensile force distribution obtained from the numerical simulations have complimented the observations made from the experiments.     

Influence of geosynthetic stiffness on bearing capacity of strip footings seated on thin reinforced granular layers over undrained soft clay

Thin granular fill layers are routinely used to aid the construction of shallow footings seated over undrained soft clay foundations and to increase their load capacity. The influence of time- and strain-dependent reduction in reinforcement stiffness on the bearing capacity and load-settlement response of a footing seated on a thin reinforced granular fill layer over undrained soft clay foundations is examined in this paper using finite-difference method (FDM) numerical models. The time- and strain-dependent stiffness of the reinforcement described by a two-component hyperbolic isochronous tensile load-strain model is shown to influence the bearing capacity and load-settlement response of the reinforced granular base scenario. The additional benefit of a reinforced granular layer diminishes as the time-dependent stiffness of the geosynthetic reinforcement increases. An analytical solution for the ultimate bearing capacity of strip footings seated on thin unreinforced and reinforced granular layers over undrained clay is proposed in this study. The main practical outcome from this study are tables of bearing capacity factors to be used with the analytical solution. The bearing capacity factors were back-calculated from the numerical analyses and account for the influence of rate-dependent properties of geogrid reinforcement materials and clay foundations with soft to very soft undrained shear strength.     

土工格栅加筋石灰土挡墙工程特性试验研究

以河北省保（定）沧（州）高速公路模块式土工格栅加筋石灰土挡墙为工程依托,以现场原型试验为手段,系统研究了该结构工作状态下的基底竖向土压力、墙面板背部侧向土压力和土工格栅拉筋应变分布规律。试验结果表明：基底竖向土压力沿筋长近似呈梯形分布,其大小一般小于理论值,最大值发生在墙背附近,且随竣工后时间的延续有下降的趋势;实测墙背侧向土压力沿墙高呈非线性增长分布,数值小于主动土压力;实测拉筋应变沿筋长呈单峰值分布,且数值均小于0.6%。试验结果可以为类似工程的设计、研究提供参考。     

CFG桩复合地基土工格栅抗拉强度数值分析

对土工格栅在CFG桩复合地基中的工作机理进行了数值模拟,研究了在不同的桩间距、垫层模量下,格栅抗拉强度EA对路基的沉降、坡脚水平位移和桩承担荷载的影响,研究表明,格栅抗拉强度EA对桩与土沉降影响不大,通过改变格栅抗拉强度EA来影响桩土沉降差远没有通过改变垫层模量来影响桩土沉降差效果好,提高格栅抗拉强度可以减小路基坡脚水平位移。