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.     

Static structural behavior of geogrid reinforced soil retaining walls with a deformation buffer zone

To understand the structural behavior of geogrid reinforced soil retaining walls (GRSW) with a deformation buffer zone (DBZ) under static loads, the model tests and the numerical simulations were conducted to obtain the wall face horizontal displacement, vertical and horizontal soil pressures, and geogrid strains. Results showed that compared with the common GRSW, the horizontal displacement of GRSW with DBZ decreased, and the horizontal soil pressure acting on the face panel of GRSW with DBZ increased. The vertical and horizontal soil pressures showed a nonlinear distribution along the reinforcement length, and the value was smaller near the face panel. The horizontal soil pressure acting on the face panel of GRSW with DBZ was greater than that of the common GRSW in the middle portion. The cumulative strain of the geogrid had a single-peak distribution along its length; the maximum strain of the geogrid was 0.45%, the maximum tension was approximately 29.12% of ultimate tensile strength.     

超高无面板式土工格栅加筋路堤现场试验研究

结合在建宜巴高速公路50 m高的加筋填土断面进行现场试验,对超高无面板式土工格栅加筋路堤的格栅变形、垂直土压力、水平土压力、分层沉降以及深层水平位移等内容进行了近2 a的测试,研究超高无面板式土工格栅加筋土路堤的受力、变形规律,分析了其作用机理。结果表明：不同层位土工格栅的最大拉应变出现在离返包面约4~6 m处,格栅应变沿筋长呈双峰值分布,施工期土工格栅应变具有明显的滞后性,且工后1.5 a格栅出现明显的收缩回弹;土工格栅的存在对土压力分布具有明显的调整作用,格栅末端附近实测垂直土压力值略超过理论值,中间和近坡面部位实测土压力值小于理论值;水平土压力沿路堤高度呈非线性形式分布,路堤中部的水平土压力值略大于顶部,其值小于主动土压力;分层沉降量在施工期存在较大波动,在垂直高度上,上部和底部偏小,中下部偏大;深层水平位移随着深度的增加逐渐减小,填土结束后深层水平位移仍有一定程度增大。     

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.     

Analytical modeling of geogrid reinforced soil foundation

This paper aims at developing analytical solutions for estimating the ultimate bearing capacity of geogrid reinforced soil foundations (RSF) for both sand and silty clay soils. Failure mechanisms for reinforced soil foundations are proposed based on the literature review and the results of experimental study on model footing tests conducted by the authors. New bearing capacity formulas that incorporate the contribution of reinforcements to the increase in bearing capacity are then developed for both reinforced sand and silty clay soil foundations based on the proposed failure mechanisms. The predicted bearing capacity values are compared with the results of laboratory model tests on reinforced sand and silty clay soil. The proposed analytical solutions were also verified by the results of large-scale model tests conducted by the authors for reinforced silty clay and the data reported in the literature. The predicted bearing capacity values from analytical solutions are in good agreement with the test 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.     

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.     

Centrifuge model study on geogrid reinforced soil walls with marginal backfills with and without chimney sand drain

The objective of this paper is to investigate the performance of geogrid reinforced soil walls with panel facing using marginal backfill with and without chimney sand drain subjected to seepage. A series of centrifuge model tests were performed at 40 gravities using a 4.5 m radius large beam centrifuge facility available at IIT Bombay. The results revealed that a geogrid reinforced soil wall with low stiffness geogrid and without any chimney drain experienced a catastrophic failure due to excess pore water pressure that developed in the reinforced and backfill zones at the onset of seepage. In comparison, a soil wall reinforced with stiff geogrid layers was found to perform effectively even at the onset of seepage. Provision of chimney sand drain effectively decreased pore water pressure not only at the wall toe but also at mid-distance from toe of the wall and thereby resulted in enhancing the wall performance under the effect of seepage forces. However, a local piping failure was observed near the toe region of the wall. The observed centrifuge test results were further analysed by performing seepage and stability analyses to evaluate the effect of thickness of sand layer in a chimney drain. An increase in thickness of sand layer in chimney drain was found to improve the discharge values and thereby enhancing the factor of safety against piping near the toe region. Based on the analysis and interpretation of centrifuge test results, it can be concluded that marginal soil can be used as a backfill in reinforced soil walls provided, it has geogrid layers of adequate stiffness and/or proper chimney drain configuration.     

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.     

Mechanical property and deformation behavior of geogrid reinforced calcareous sand

The strength and deformation properties of maritime geotechnical structures made primarily of calcareous sand are critical for project safety, and geogrid reinforcement is a promising new approach. A series of consolidated drained triaxial experiments were conducted to evaluate the mechanical property and deformation behaviors of geogrid reinforced calcareous sand (GRCS), taking into consideration the impacts of the geogrid layer, relative density, particle size, and confining pressure. In comparison to the unreinforced calcareous sand, the strength of the GRCS is greatly enhanced, and the deviatoric stress-strain curves are altered from slightly softening to hardening, as well as the suppressed shearing dilatancy. The geogrid, relative compactness, particle size, and confining pressure are all intimately related to the volume changes and shearing dilatancy of reinforced specimens, but particle crushing is mostly impacted by the confining pressure. The interactions of geogrid ribs and calcareous sand particles are summarized as two types of constraint and friction using scanning electron microscope tests to establish a simplified calculation method of horizontal and vertical equivalent additional stresses that could provide a reference for revealing the mechanical mechanism of GRCS.     

Centrifuge and numerical model studies on the behaviour of geogrid reinforced soil walls with marginal backfills with and without geocomposite layers

The aim of this paper is to study the effect of geocomposite layers as internal drainage system on the behaviour of geogrid reinforced soil walls with marginal backfills using centrifuge and numerical modelling. A series of centrifuge model tests were carried out using a 4.5 m radius beam centrifuge facility available at IIT Bombay. A seepage condition was imposed to all models to simulate rising ground water condition. Displacement and pore water pressure transducers were used to monitor the performance of all centrifuge models. A geogrid reinforced soil wall without any geocomposite layer experienced catastrophic failure soon after applying seepage due to the development of excess pore water pressure within the reinforced soil zone of the wall. In comparison, reinforced soil wall with two geocomposite layers at the bottom portion of the wall was found to have a good performance at the onset of seepage and by embedding four geocomposite layers up to the mid-height of the wall from bottom as a result of lowering phreatic surface much more effectively. For analysing further the observed behaviour of centrifuge model tests, stability and seepage analysis were conducted using SLOPE/W and SEEP/W software packages. A good agreement was found between the results of numerical analysis and observation made in centrifuge tests. The effect of number of geocomposite layers as well as its transmissivity was further analysed using parametric study. The results of parametric study revealed that the number of geocomposite layers plays a main role on the good performance of the geogrid reinforced soil walls with marginal backfill.     

Experimental investigation of a reinforced soil retaining wall with a flexible geogrid-wrapped ecological bag facing

This paper presented a field study of the reinforced soil wall (RSW) with a geogrid wrap-around facing. In addition to the conventional monitoring content, the strain of the face-wrapping geogrid, which was neglected in most previous studies, was monitored during the construction process. The positional relationship between the maximum vertical earth pressure and horizontally laid geogrid strain was revealed by using the proposed oblique dragging effect. It was found that the strain on the face-wrapping geogrid occurred mainly in the early stage of construction. The oblique dragging effect existing in the flexible RSWs increased the vertical earth pressure and changed its distribution law, resulting in the position of the maximum vertical soil pressure appearing behind the position of the maximum horizontally laid geogrid strain. The horizontal earth pressure at different positions behind the wall was obviously lower than the theoretical result by using Rankine's theory. Also, a modified 0.3H method (where H refers to the wall height) was presented to account for the slope of the wall face, which could be used to determine the potential sliding surfaces for single-stage RSWs and two-tier RSWs with small offset.     

Post-construction performance of a two-tiered geogrid reinforced soil wall backfilled with soil-rock mixture

There have been very few studies on the application of soil-rock mixtures as the backfills of geogrid reinforced soil retaining walls with due concern for their long-term performance and safety. In this study, a 17-m high two-tiered reinforced soil wall backfilled with soil-rock mixture was instrumented for its performance under gravity load after construction. The instrumentation continued for 15 months. It is found that soil-rock mixtures with small rock content (<30%) have the potential to be used as the backfill materials of geogrid-reinforced retaining walls, but special attentions should be given to compaction quality, backfill–geogrid interaction, and installation damage to geogrids. Reinforcement slippage is possible because of the large particles, but it was small in this case and ceased to develop nine months after the end of construction. Compressibility difference between reinforced and unreinforced backfill might led to rotation of the upper tier. Using the estimated soil strength, the predictions of reinforcement loads by the FHWA methods were 100% higher than the estimated ones from measured strains.     

Experimental investigation on the accumulated strain of coarse-grained soil reinforced by geogrid under high-cycle cyclic loading

In this study, a series of cyclic triaxial tests were conducted to study the accumulated strain of coarse-grained soil reinforced with geogrids, and the effect of the number of geogrid layers, confining pressure and cyclic stress amplitude was investigated in detail. The test results show that the final accumulated axial strain of the soils reinforced with geogrids is less than that without reinforcement, and less accumulated axial strain is generated for the specimens with more geogrid layers under identical cyclic loading. The results also show that a higher confining pressure or a lower cyclic stress amplitude yields less accumulated axial strain for the reinforced soils. Furthermore, the plastic shakedown limits are determined by the criterion proposed by Chen et al. It indicates that the plastic shakedown limit increases significantly when one layer of geogrid is incorporated into the specimen and then tends to level off with a continuous increase in the number of geogrid layers. Moreover, a higher confining pressure yields a higher plastic shakedown limit for the soils reinforced with geogrid. The results demonstrated that the use of geogrid can be an effective method to reduce the accumulated deformation of subgrade filling materials under high-cycle traffic loading.     

路基土的力学性状试验研究与分析

通过应力控制仪,对高含水率土进行路基填筑过程模拟试验,研究路基下土的力学性状变化规律。通过试验分析得出:路基填筑速度对第一填筑过程影响较小,在相同的时间内不同的路基填筑速度下,路基下土的变形、孔隙水压力增长以及应力路径的变化不明显;但由于在停载排水固结过程中,快速填筑造成土中孔隙水压力消散过慢,使得从第二阶段路基填筑开始,孔隙水压力较高并且消散过慢,使得路基下土的变形量过大,在较短时间内难以获得较高的固结度。因此,对于含水率较高、渗透系数较大的软土路基填筑来说,需要合理选择路基填筑速度,从而缩短路基下土的排水固结时间,保证工程安全迅速的进行。     

Large-scale tests of pile-supported earth platform with and without geogrid

In recent years, concrete piles, such as cast-in-place piles and precast concrete piles, have been increasingly used to support superstructures and embankments when they are constructed on soft soils. On the top of pile head elevation, a certain thick granular cushion including geosynthetic reinforcement is usually installed to transfer more external load onto the piles through soil arching effect and membrane effect. This technique involving the use of rigid piles, gravel cushion and geosynthetics is usually referred to as geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported earth platform. This paper presents two well-instrumented large-scale tests of pile-supported earth platform with and without geogrid reinforcement. The performance of the pile-supported platform with geogrid and its load transfer behavior were investigated and compared with those for the test without geogrid. The validation of the EBGEO (2010) calculation was performed based on the test results. The test results indicate that under lower applied load, the loads carried by the piles in the test with geogrid were close to those in the test without goegrid, while with an increase in external load the loads carried by piles in the test with geogrid increased faster than those in the test without geogrid. The negative skin friction for the test with geogrid was smaller than that for the test without geogrid. Based on the contours of earth pressures on foundation base the maximum earth pressures were distributed along the edge of central cap in the test with geogrid. The minimum earth pressures were on midway subsoil between two caps in both tests. Based on the test results, the efficacy for the test with geogrid was 2.5% greater than that for the test without geogrid at the end of loading. The efficacies predicted by the EBGEO (2010) calculation agreed well with the measured efficacies.     

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.     

高填方加筋土路堤的质量保证措施

结合工程实例，介绍了高填方加筋土路堤的施工技术，从路基的设计、科研方案、技术要点等方面进行了论述，提出了高填方加筋土路堤的质量保证措施。     

高填土路堤粉喷桩和土工格栅联合加固性状的数值分析

应用FLAC-3D程序对某大桥28号桥台试验区17 m高的粉喷桩与土工格栅联合加固填土路堤进行了数值分析,计算结果和实测结果的对比表明:联合加固后,路基中心沉降明显减小,但坡角处沉降影响较小,因此,可以采取优化布桩的原则,减少工程成本;联合加固可以限制侧向位移,使得路堤的整体稳定性提高,有利于快速施工,同时加固区内桩身出现应力集中现象;加固区沉降量有明显减小,但下卧层沉降量不降低反而有一定程度增大,因此建议粉喷桩宜穿透软弱层,坐落在持力层上;联合加固后下卧层顶面附加应力有向路基中心集中的趋势;使用粉喷桩处理表层软弱而下层坚实的地基土效果将更为理想。     

Creep analysis of an earth embankment on soft soil deposit with and without PVD improvement

In this paper, an anisotropic creep constitutive model, namely Creep-SCLAY1S is employed to study the installation effects of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) on the behavior of a full scale test embankment, namely Haarajoki embankment in Finland. The embankment was constructed on a natural soft soil with PVD installed to improve the drainage under one half of it. The Creep constitutive model used in this study, incorporates the effects of fabric anisotropy, structure and time within a critical state based framework. For comparison, the isotropic modified Cam clay (MCC) model and the rate-independent anisotropic S-CLAY1S model are also used for the analyses. The numerical predictions are compared with field measurements and the results indicate that the creep model provides an improved approximation of field settlements, and excess pore pressure build-up and dissipations. In addition, the application of two commonly used permeability matching techniques for two dimensional (2D) plane-strain analysis of the PVD problem is studied and the results are discussed highlighting their limitations and advantages.