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.     

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.     

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.     

Experimental and Analytical studies of reinforced crushed limestone

This research study aims at investigating the behavior of spread footings on reinforced crushed limestone using laboratory model tests. The model tests were conducted inside a steel box with dimensions of 1.5 m (length) × 0.91 m (width) × 0.91 m (height) using a steel plate with dimensions of 152 mm × 152 mm (6 in. × 6 in.). The parameters investigated include the number of reinforcement layers and the tensile modulus and type of reinforcement. An analytical solution is also developed to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of reinforced crushed limestone. The test results show that the inclusion of reinforcement can appreciably improve the bearing capacity of crushed limestone up to a factor of 2.85 at a settlement ratio of 10% and reduce the footing settlement down to 75% at a surface pressure of 5500 kPa. The results also demonstrate that reinforcements with higher tensile modulus performed better than reinforcements with lower tensile modulus and that steel reinforcement performed better than geogrid reinforcement. The proposed analytical solution gave a good predication of experimental results of geogrid reinforced sections, while Huang and Menq's solution (1997) gave a good predication for steel reinforced crushed limestone. The analytical results also showed that the reinforced ratio (R_r) should be high enough to form the “deep footing” effect.     

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.     

Bearing capacity of strip footings on sand slopes reinforced with geogrid and grid-anchor

This paper presents the effect of a new type of geogrid inclusion on the bearing capacity of a rigid strip footing constructed on a sand slope. A broad series of conditions, including unreinforced cases, was tested by varying parameters such as geogrid type, number of geogrid layers, vertical spacing and depth to topmost layer of geogrid. The results were then analyzed to find both qualitative and quantitative relationships between the bearing capacity and the geogrid parameters. A series of finite element analyses was additionally carried out on a prototype slope and the results were compared with the findings from the laboratory model tests and to complete the results of the model tests. The results show that the bearing capacity of rigid strip footings on sloping ground can be intensively increased by the inclusion of grid-anchor layers in the ground, and that the magnitude of bearing capacity increase depends greatly on the geogrid distribution. It is also shown that the load-settlement behavior and bearing capacity of the rigid footing can be considerably improved by the inclusion of a reinforcing layer at the appropriate location in the fill slope. The agreement between observed and computed results is found to be reasonably good in terms of load-settlement behavior and optimum parameters.     

Performance of two-tiered reinforced-soil retaining walls under strip footing load

In the current study, an attempt was made to investigate the performance of two-tiered mechanically stabilized earth walls (T-TMSEWs) under static footing loading using reduced-scale model tests. For this purpose, twenty-four T-TMSEW models were constructed with three different types of reinforcement (metal strips, geogrid and geostraps) and were loaded using the rotatable and non-rotatable strip footings in different distances to the wall crest. Findings indicated that, although decreasing the reinforcement stiffness and the soil-reinforcement interaction reduces the ultimate bearing capacity of footings, the use of extensible reinforcements with low pull-out capacity and allowing the footing to tilt can be two effective solutions in T-TMSEWs to minimize deformations of backfill surface and connection loads as well as lateral pressures. It was observed that the use of a two-tiered configuration in MSE walls and also reducing tensile stiffness and soil-reinforcement interaction simultaneously, not only lead to change in the slip surface geometry but also prevent the development of deep slip surfaces in the lower tier. On the other hand, increasing the footing distance to the wall crest in the range of reinforced zone was found to be another influential solution to improve the bearing capacity, reduce wall deformations and also minimize lateral pressures.     

Effect of aspect ratio of footing on behavior of two closely-spaced footings on geogrid-reinforced sand

This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests carried out on two closely-spaced interfering footings resting on the surface of geogrid-reinforced and unreinforced sand bed. The effect of aspect ratio (or shape) of the footing on interference behavior is studied by adopting three pairs of model footings of different sizes. The length (L) to width (B) ratio (i.e., aspect ratio) of the footings is varied from 1.0 to 2.0. The effects of single layer of geogrid on footing interference and bearing capacity improvement are investigated. The optimum depth of the geogrid layer for both interfering and isolated footings is found to be one-third of the footing width and it is not dependent on the aspect ratio of the footing. The optimum spacing between the interfering footings is found to be 1.5 times the width of the footing. Lower efficiency factor is observed for interfering footings resting on the reinforced sand compared to the unreinforced sand. Higher bearing capacity ratio (BCR) is observed for isolated footing than that of interfering footings when BCR is measured based on ultimate bearing capacity values of reinforced and unreinforced cases and BCR value increases as the aspect ratio of the footing increases.     

Effect of footing shape and load eccentricity on behavior of geosynthetic reinforced sand bed

This paper presents the results from a laboratory modeling tests and numerical studies carried out on circular and square footings assuming the same plan area that rests on geosynthetic reinforced sand bed. The effects of the depth of the first and second layers of reinforcement, number of reinforcement layers on bearing capacity of the footings in central and eccentral loadings are investigated. The results indicated that in unreinforced condition, the ultimate bearing capacity is almost equal for both of the footings; but with reinforcing and increasing the number of reinforcement layers the ultimate bearing capacity of circular footing increased in a higher rate compared to square footing in both central and eccentrial loadings. The beneficial effect of a geosynthetic inclusion is largely dependent on the shape of footings. Also, by increasing the number of reinforcement layers, the tilt of circular footing decreased more than square footing. The SR (settlement reduction) of the reinforced condition shows that settlement at ultimate bearing capacity is heavily dependent on load eccentricity and is not significantly different from that for the unreinforced one. Also, close match between the experimental and numerical load-settlement curves and trend lines shown that the modeling approach utilized in this study can be reasonably adapted for reinforced soil applications.     

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.     

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.     

Investigating the effect of geogrid on stabilization of high railway embankments

This paper investigates the effect of geogrid on controlling the stability and settlement of high railway embankments using laboratory testing and finite element modeling. To do this, five series of embankments with 50?cm height were constructed, at a scale of 1:20 and then were uniformly loaded on the crest in a loading chamber in dimensions of 240?×?235?×?220?cm. In this regard, the embankments of the first series were constructed without geogrid reinforcing layers. Following to preliminary numerical simulations for determining the appropriate level of geogrid layers installation, the second to fifth series of embankments were constructed. These embankments were reinforced with one to four layers of geogrid respectively and finally, the results of their load in terms of settlements were compared. In these studies, the reinforced embankments with a single geogrid layer had 7.14% raise in bearing capacity and 11.24% reduction in settlement respectively, in comparison with the unreinforced embankment. The obtained results for the third to fifth series of embankments were respectively in order of (19, 36.14), (26.3, 52.8) and (28.9, 53.42)%. In the next stage, by modeling the embankments in the PLAXIS 2D software, the results were validated by the values obtained through laboratory models. In continuation of the study, real embankments with heights of 5, 10, 15, and 20?m were simulated and placed under LM71 loading pattern (Eurocode, 2003). In this respect, the impact of important effective parameters such as number of geogrid layer, soil characteristics, embankment dimensions, interface coefficient between soil and geogrid and tensile strength of geogrid on bearing capacity and settlement have been studied. The numerical results like the experimental ones, confirmed the increase in bearing capacity and settlement diminishing with definite increase in the geogrid layers, so that more geogrid layers do not affect these parameters. With respect to improving the soil characteristics and reducing the height of embankments, the FEM models showed decreasing effect of geogrid tensile strength on embankment crest settlement. On the other side, the value of geogrid-soil interface coefficient has minor effect on both settlement and sliding safety factor.     

交通荷载作用下软基加筋道路加筋效果分析

为了研究交通荷载作用下考虑软土软化效应的软基加筋道路加筋效果的影响因素,首先以室内动三轴试验为基础,通过回归分析得到了软土在循环荷载作用下动模量衰减的经验公式;然后编制了用户子程序将该公式导入有限元分析软件ABAQUS中,采用有限元分析了荷载形式、荷载频率、筋材模量、加筋位置、加筋层数、软土层厚度等对加筋效果的影响。结果表明,随着荷载频率的增大,加筋效果呈减小趋势。加筋效果会随着筋材模量的增大和加筋层数的增多而增大。当筋材铺设在面层和基层之间时,加筋效果最好。在软土层厚度较小时,加筋效果随软土层深度增大有明显提高;但在软土层厚度较大时,加筋效果随软土深度增加提高较少。     

Effect of reinforcement form on the bearing capacity of square footings on sand

This paper presents the results of laboratory model loading tests and numerical studies carried out on square footings supported on geosynthetic reinforced sand beds. The relative performance of different forms of geosynthetic reinforcement (i.e. geocell, planar layers and randomly distributed mesh elements) in foundation beds is compared; using same quantity of reinforcement in each test. A biaxial geogrid and a geonet are used for reinforcing the sand beds. Geonet is used in two forms of reinforcement, viz. planar layers and geocell, while the biaxial geogrid was used in three forms of reinforcement, viz. planar layers, geocell and randomly distributed mesh elements. Laboratory load tests on unreinforced and reinforced footings are simulated in a numerical model and the results are analyzed to understand the distribution of displacements and stresses below the footing better. Both the experimental and numerical studies demonstrated that the geocell is the most advantageous form of soil reinforcement technique of those investigated, provided there is no rupture of the material during loading. Geogrid used in the form of randomly distributed mesh elements is found to be inferior to the other two forms. Some significant observations on the difference in reinforcement mechanism for different forms of reinforcement are presented in this paper.     

Strip footing on geocell reinforced sand beds with additional planar reinforcement

The results from laboratory model tests on strip footings supported by geocell reinforced sand beds with additional planar reinforcement are presented. The test results show that a layer of planar geogrid placed at the base of the geocell mattress further enhances the performance of the footing in terms of the load-carrying capacity and the stability against rotation. The beneficial effect of this planar reinforcement layer becomes negligible at large heights of geocell mattress.     

Laboratory investigation of bearing capacity behaviour of strip footing on reinforced flyash slope

The paper presents the results of laboratory model tests on bearing capacity behaviour of a strip footing resting on the top of a geogrid reinforced flyash slope. A series of model footing tests covering a wide range of boundary conditions, including unreinforced cases were conducted by varying parameters such as location and depth of embedment of single geogrid layer, number of geogrid layers, location of footing relative to the slope crest, slope angles and width of footing. The results of the investigation indicate that both the pressure–settlement behaviour and the ultimate bearing capacity of footing resting on the top of a flyash slope can be enhanced by the presence of reinforcing layers. However the efficiency of flyash geogrid system increases with the increasing number of geogrid layers and edge distance of footing from the slope. Based on experimental results critical values of geogrid parameters for maximum reinforcing effects are established. Experimental results obtained from a series of model tests have been presented and discussed in the paper.     

Cyclic response of footing on geogrid-reinforced sand with void

This paper describes laboratory tests on footing constructed on unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced sand with circular a void subjected to a combination of static and repeated loads. The settlement of the footing was measured for up to 5000 cycles of loading and unloading. The variables examined in the testing program include the number of geogrid layers, the location of the void within the soil, the amplitude of cyclic load, and the number of load cycles. The results show that the footing performance due to cyclic loading is better for thicker geogrid reinforced sand with a void than for unreinforced sand with no void. In addition, a critical region was found to exist under the footing, under which a void results in increased footing settlement. Overall, the results indicate that the reinforced soil-footing systems with sufficient geogrid-reinforcement and sufficient void embedment depth behave much more stiffly and are thus capable of handling greater loads with lower settlement than those in unreinforced soil without a void. The undesirable effect of the void on the footing behavior can be eliminated. In addition, the results show that the values of footing settlement increase rapidly during the initial loading cycles; thereafter the rate of settlement is reduced significantly as the number of loading cycles increases.     

Collapse Loads Over Two-Layer Clay Foundation Soils

A strict upper bound solution to limit loads on strip footings over two-layer clay foundation soil is presented. Two mechanisms of failure are considered: one with a continually deforming field, and a rigid-block mechanism. The multi-block mechanism was found to be very flexible in terms of being able to assume different shapes of the deformation pattern. Consequently, this mechanism yielded the least upper bound to the bearing pressure. The method used was adapted to calculations of bearing capacity of strip footings subjected to loads with horizontal components. If the depth of the second layer of clay is sufficiently large, the shear strength of this layer will not affect the bearing capacity. This depth is referred to here as the critical depth, and it depends on the footing width and the combination of the undrained shear strength in the two layers. If the undrained shear strength of the bottom layer is small compared to the top layer, the critical height may be as much as twice the footing width.     

Experimental study on the load bearing behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil bridge abutments with different facing conditions

This paper presents an experimental study on reduced-scale model tests of geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) bridge abutments with modular block facing, full-height panel facing, and geosynthetic wrapped facing to investigate the influence of facing conditions on the load bearing behavior. The GRS abutment models were constructed using sand backfill and geogrid reinforcement. Test results indicate that footing settlements and facing displacements under the same applied vertical stress generally increase from full-height panel facing abutment, to modular block facing abutment, to geosynthetic wrapped facing abutment. Measured incremental vertical and lateral soil stresses for the two GRS abutments with flexible facing are generally similar, while the GRS abutment with rigid facing has larger stresses. For the GRS abutments with flexible facing, maximum reinforcement tensile strain in each layer typically occurs under the footing for the upper reinforcement layers and near the facing connections for the lower layers. For the full-height panel facing abutment, maximum reinforcement tensile strains generally occur near the facing connections.