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Laboratory and numerical investigation of machine foundations reinforced with geogrids and geocells

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The manuscript describes the results of large scale field tests and numerical studies conducted on geosynthetics reinforced soil beds supporting model machine foundation. A series of vertical mode block resonance tests are conducted over a rigid concrete footing resting on different reinforced soil conditions. The tests are performed in a test pit of size 2 m × 2 m × 0.5 m using a concrete footing of size 0.6 m × 0.6 m × 0.5 m. Four different conditions, namely, unreinforced, single layer geogrid reinforced, two layer geogrid reinforced and geocell reinforced conditions were considered. The tests are performed under six different dynamic force levels using a Lazen type mechanical oscillator. In total, 38 number of field tests are conducted. The dynamic response is studied in terms of reduction in resonant amplitude, peak particle velocity (PPV) and improvement in dynamic properties of the soil. Experimental results revealed that the displacement amplitude of vibration significantly reduced in the presence of geosynthetics. The maximum reduction is observed in the presence of geocell reinforcement as compared to the other conditions. In the presence of geocell reinforcement, resonant amplitude is decreased by 61% and the natural frequency of the soil system is increased by 1.38 times as compared to the unreinforced condition. In addition, the geocell reinforcement found to reduce the PPV by 48% at a distance of 0.5 m from the footing face. The elastic uniform compression of the foundation bed is improved by 91% in the presence of geocell reinforcement. Further, the experimental results are validated with the numerical studies conducted by using finite difference package FLAC3D. The encouraging agreement in the dynamic behavior of reinforced soil is observed between the numerical and experimental studies. The numerical results revealed that the lateral spreading of vibrations is significantly controlled in the presence of geocell reinforcement.

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... The response of neighboring structures and equipment depends on the dynamic characteristics of the foundation soil, along with the distance from the vibration source (Moghaddas Tafreshi et al. 2022). Enhancing the dynamic characteristics of the foundation soil through various reinforcement methods, such as the use of materials like high tensile wire, bamboo grid, fiber, rubber sheets, rubber soil mixtures, geotextile, geocell, and geogrid, mitigates machineinduced vibration and its transmission effectively (Boominathan et al. 1991;Santhakumar et al. 2001;Haldar and Sivakumar Babu 2009;Clement et al. 2015;Samal et al. 2016;Sreedhar and Abhishek 2016;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2017;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Dhanya et al. 2019;Hegde and Venkateswarlu 2019;Li et al. 2020;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020a, b;Zakeri et al. 2021;Hasthi et al. 2022;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2023;Kuvat et al. 2024). Applying the geogrid has drawn significant attention in recent years as a remedy for machine-induced vibrations (Clement et al. 2015;Samal et al. 2016;Sreedhar and Abhishek 2016;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020b). ...
... Enhancing the dynamic characteristics of the foundation soil through various reinforcement methods, such as the use of materials like high tensile wire, bamboo grid, fiber, rubber sheets, rubber soil mixtures, geotextile, geocell, and geogrid, mitigates machineinduced vibration and its transmission effectively (Boominathan et al. 1991;Santhakumar et al. 2001;Haldar and Sivakumar Babu 2009;Clement et al. 2015;Samal et al. 2016;Sreedhar and Abhishek 2016;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2017;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Dhanya et al. 2019;Hegde and Venkateswarlu 2019;Li et al. 2020;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020a, b;Zakeri et al. 2021;Hasthi et al. 2022;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2023;Kuvat et al. 2024). Applying the geogrid has drawn significant attention in recent years as a remedy for machine-induced vibrations (Clement et al. 2015;Samal et al. 2016;Sreedhar and Abhishek 2016;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020b). However, machine-induced vibrations do not remain confined in the neighborhood of the source but propagate through the soil medium. ...
... Moreover, the majority of the experimental studies on the dynamic behavior of geogrid-reinforced soil beds have primarily focused on the response of isolated footings. Additionally, several numerical investigations have been performed on the dynamic response of isolated footings on reinforced soils, employing FE (Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2017) and FD (Haldar and Sivakumar Babu 2009;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Ujjawal et al. 2019;Hegde 2020a, 2023) analyses. However, experimental and numerical investigations on the dynamic interference of closely spaced machine foundations resting on geogrid-reinforced soil have not drawn much attention. ...
Article
The current study encompasses experimental and numerical investigations on the response of closely placed machine foundations resting on unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced soil beds. Large-scale field block vibration tests are performed on isolated and closely spaced block footings resting on prepared foundation beds at IIT Kanpur, India. The dynamic interaction between machine foundations is explored by considering various combinations of footings, in which one footing (active footing) is dynamically loaded, while the other (passive footing) is loaded statically. The tests involve three eccentric force settings for four distinct footing combinations at different clear spacings and reinforcement conditions. Steady-state vibrational responses are recorded for both active and passive footings. The experimental outcomes indicate that incorporating the geogrid causes a reduction in the resonant displacement amplitude and an improvement in the resonant frequency of both active and passive footings. For active footings, the resonant displacement amplitude decreases by 27%, while the resonant frequency increases by 21% in the presence of the geogrid. In contrast, for passive footings, the presence of the geogrid leads to a decrease in the resonant displacement amplitude by 21% and an increase in the resonant frequency by 1.2 times. The current investigation also presents the attenuation response of unreinforced and reinforced soil beds. The geogrid mitigates vibration propagation efficiently by reducing ground-borne vibrations. Including the geogrid in the foundation bed reduces ground vibrations by 39% at a distance of 0.6 m from the vibration source. A 3D finite-element (FE) model is developed for the numerical analysis. The established FE model captures the dynamic interference effect and the attenuation response under different bed conditions. A comparative study between the experimental and the numerical results demonstrates a promising level of agreement, affirming the efficacy of the developed numerical model.
... Such unfavorable vibrations adversely affect adjacent structures, nearby sensitive equipment and residents [1] but can be controlled by enhancing stiffness, damping potential, and elastic properties of the soil-foundation system [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Various reinforcement techniques for the foundation bed using high tensile wires, geosynthetics, bamboo grids, fiber, and rubber sheets, were adopted to enhance the dynamic properties of the soil [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Recently, geogrid in controlling machine-induced vibrations has drawn much interest from researchers. ...
... Sreedhar and Abhishek [6] performed model block vibration tests on sandy soil beds equipped with geogrid and reported a decrease in z r but a rise in resonant frequency (f mr ). Venkateswarlu et al. [10] examined the behavior of geogridreinforced silty sand through block vibration tests. Results revealed that the provision of geogrid caused an increment in the f mr and elastic nature of the foundation soil along with a reduction in z r . ...
... Various investigations adopted the mass-spring-dashpot (MSD) analysis to study the dynamic behavior of machine foundations supported by homogeneous [18,23], layered [17,21,24] and reinforced [11][12][13] soil beds. Apart from the above analytical approaches, numerical methods such as the finite element method (FEM) [3,18,23,25,26], finite difference method (FDM) [10,12,13,[27][28][29] and boundary element method (BEM) [30] were also used to model the dynamic behavior of machine foundations. ...
Article
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This paper explains the behavior of harmonically loaded machine foundations supported by geogrid-reinforced soil beds using multi-model approaches, such as experimental, numerical, analytical, and artificial neural network (ANN) modeling techniques. Field block vibration tests are performed on a foundation bed measuring 1.47 m × 1.47 m × 0.65 m, prepared on the soil at IIT Kanpur, India [N26° 30′ 59.0892″ (latitude), E80° 13′ 51.6888″ (longitude)]. Two different reinforced cement concrete (RCC) footings of sizes 0.55 m × 0.55 m × 0.2 m and 0.65 m × 0.65 m × 0.2 m are employed in this investigation. The tests are performed at three different eccentric force settings considering three testbeds: unreinforced, single-layer and double-layer geogrid reinforced beds. Geogrid layers reduce resonant amplitude and dynamic shear strain while simultaneously improving resonant frequency, system characteristics and dynamic soil properties. Further, the experimental results are compared with those obtained from the finite element and mass-spring-dashpot analysis. The displacement amplitude of footings is also predicted at different frequencies using ANN modelling to endorse the authenticity of the study. Encouraging agreements can be observed among various modeling approaches considered in this study.
... Along these ranges, there is a requirement to understand soil support connections. The suitability of the "bear limit increase" anticipation strategy in sandy ground reinforced by the constructor is examined using tests conducted under various test cases [23]. In the current study, four different kinds of basic materials were utilized. ...
... Free vibration trials were performed in a typical trial tank by shifting the supported depth (dr) by keeping the fortification width (wr) constant. Venkateswarlu H. et al. [23] present the results of massive field experiments and numerical tests conducted on synthetic earth-reinforced soil layers supporting the creation of a prototype machine. A series of vertical position square rebound tests are carried out via an inelastic rigid balance placed on different conditions of the reinforced soil. ...
Article
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The method of reinforcement soil layers was a common technique to improve the ability of the soil to retain load and reduce settlement. The technique has been somewhat dependent, whereas, in the past, there was research on this method of design and analysis. So, soil improvement by reinforcing it must be analyzed correctly. The capacity of assuming the improved bearing capacity underground of reinforced sand was in-vestigated through the user's use of the test executor in diverse test cases. Here in this investigation, four various kinds of reinforcement materials have been used. Four circular models with different interior diame-ters were used to examine the effect of the circular ratio on the bearing capacity of the soil layer along the various reinforcing state of affairs. A typical plate load test was carried out with the presence of monotonous and periodic loading in three chains mentioned in tests of the monochrome plate loading on ringing base anchoring on layers of sand which are reinforced over Netlon CE121 Geo-grid as a material of reinforce-ment- 15 numbers, tests of periodic plate-load PLT along Geogrid (Netlon CE121) as materials of reinforc-ing - 15 number, the Monochromatic tests of plate-load over Geojute as a reinforcing material - 9 number, tests of periodic plate-load PLT over Geojute as a reinforcing material - 9 number.
... Furthermore, the complexity of the interactions and their properties even makes it difficult and requires immense computational power and time. Geocell as reinforcement caught many researchers attention [1,2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and their findings incriminated efficacy of geocell in improving soil properties [3] Performed analytical and numerical investigations of block resonance tests to study the dynamic response of soil under vertical dynamic excitation. ...
... An equivalent dia of geocell 0.25 m was used in this study. Different infill materials were used in geocell: silty sand (host soil), slag, and aggregate [11]. ...
... The actual honeycomb shape of the geocell was modelled by obtaining the coordinates of the expanded geocell through the digitisation of the photographs to simulate the static plate load tests on geocell reinforced sand [35][36][37]. The behaviour of machine foundations on geocellreinforced sand by modelling the actual honeycomb shape of the geocell was studied by Venkateswarlu et al. [38]. ...
... Both sand and gravel were modelled using elastic-perfectly plastic Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. The studies have been carried out in the past to simulate the system subjected to the dynamic loading using the similar constitutive behaviour [38,[45][46][47]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Construction of retaining walls using geocell stacks as facing has many advantages such as inherent flexibility, reduction in construction cost and time, dispensability of concrete facing, and overall improvement in stability. Though soil–geocell interactions at element level are well understood, various aspects of these interactions at a bigger scale, specifically under seismic conditions are not established. In this study, retaining walls with geocell facing were tested under seismic conditions through shaking table model tests. The study is focussed on understanding the effects of geocell stiffness, slope inclination, and infill type on the acceleration and displacement response of geocell walls under seismic conditions. Results showed that battered-faced walls performed much better than vertical-faced walls. Even the low-strength geocells could offer great resistance to seismic shaking. Further, to understand the behaviour of the geocell retaining walls under actual earthquake loading, 3D modelling of the wall considering the actual shape of geocells was carried out using FLAC3D. The results showed that the retaining wall subjected to acceleration time histories having the same peak acceleration and Arias intensity underwent different lateral deformations. This indicates that the frequency content of the input motion plays a major role in the performance of the geocell retaining walls.
... By analyzing some parameters, including the geocell size and modulus, depth of the geocell mattress, and the relative density of the sand, the author claimed that the top of the geocell mattress should be at a depth of 0.1-time footing width to obtain the maximum reinforced performance. Following this research, subsequent studies by Ujjawal et al. 11 , Hegde and Sitharam 15 , Hegde and Sitharam 16 , Hegde and Sitharam 17 , Hegde and Sitharam 18 , Venkateswarlu et al. 19 all adopted this buried depth of geocell mattress to study the behavior of reinforced soil beds based on model or site tests. Historically, researchers have primarily focused on enhancing the bearing capacity of geocell-reinforced beds 20,21 , load distribution of geocell mattresses 22 , and vibration isolation 11,12 . ...
... Further, Leshchinsky and Ling 26 , Biabani et al. 27 , Ngo et al. 28 , Siabil et al. 29 used the square and hexagon pattern to calculate. The honeycomb shape (actual shape) was also adopted in recent years 17,19,30 . Overall, employing the actual shape of geocells in numerical models can accurately represent the behavior of geocell-reinforced soil beds, including pressure-settlement response and surface settlement/heave. ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents a comprehensive study on the numerical and parametric study of geocell-reinforced cohesive soil beds, focusing on different infill materials. The numerical calculations were validated against model test results using FLAC 3D software. Subsequently, the verified model was expanded to the geocell-reinforced cohesive soil beds. Six cases were simulated to investigate the reinforced performance, including pressure-settlement responses, bearing capacity improvement factor, settlement reduction percentage, and surface deformation. The numerical findings emphasize that the significance of superior geocell reinforcement should not overshadow the consideration of soil infill’s mechanical properties. In the case of cohesive soil as the infill material, the poor improvement in geocell-reinforced performance may be attributed to its low modulus and cohesion. Parametric studies suggest that geocells significantly impact reinforced performance when the infill material consists of foundation soil with a higher modulus and lower cohesion. Further, according to this numerical study, cohesionless soil with a modulus of 20 MPa and friction of 40° is the optimum infill soil in pockets to reinforce cohesive soil beds.
... Along these ranges, there is a requirement to understand soil support connections. The suitability of the "bear limit increase" anticipation strategy in sandy ground reinforced by the constructor is examined using tests conducted under various test cases [23]. In the current study, four different kinds of basic materials were utilized. ...
... Free vibration trials were performed in a typical trial tank by shifting the supported depth (dr) by keeping the fortification width (wr) constant. Venkateswarlu H. et al. [23] present the results of massive field experiments and numerical tests conducted on synthetic earth-reinforced soil layers supporting the creation of a prototype machine. A series of vertical position square rebound tests are carried out via an inelastic rigid balance placed on different conditions of the reinforced soil. ...
... Several critical parameters like soil types and geosynthetics might affect the performance of machine foundations laid on the soil reinforced with geosynthetics. Recently the use of geosynthetics in the field of geotechnical engineering has received greater attention from researchers [7][8][9][10]. In addition to the improvement in strength, these geosynthetics alter the dynamic behaviour of the founding soil beneath the machine foundations. ...
... The foundation soil used in this study was silty sand. As shown in Table 1, the material properties of soil, geocell and placement location of reinforcement were taken from the published work of Venkateswarlu et al. [10]. Additional parameters for the numerical analysis, In the present study, a block machine foundation with a square of size 1.75 m and a depth of 0.75 m was modelled and placed on reinforced soil mass. ...
Article
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Machine foundations require careful analysis and design as it involves severe dynamic loads in addition to the standard design loads of gravity. Furthermore, the magnitude and nature of the operating loads are mainly dependent on the type of machine. The foundation must aid the smooth functioning of machines during usual operation and also ensure structural integrity under unusual loading circumstances, especially during resonance. Such severe conditions may be avoided by varying the stiffness and the mass of the structure which alters the natural frequency of the system and demands revisit to the design of foundations. To expedite the process, a detailed 3D finite element analysis is carried out in the present study using a finite element software (ANSYS v 2021). Higher-rated machines now have greater tolerances and regulated behaviour thanks to advancements in manufacturing technology. To achieve greater efficiency in the machine performance, this study emphasizes the necessity of more vital collaboration between foundation designers and machine manufacturers. The paper presents the modal analysis of machine foundations resting on different ground conditions namely, Unreinforced and Reinforced with geocells. The findings are expressed in the form of vibration characteristics (i.e. natural frequency and mode shapes), which demonstrate how different elements of the structure respond under different dynamic loading situations. Furthermore, the influence of sloping ground near the machine foundations is highlighted in the study..
... Similarly, the addition of geocell led to a reduction in displacement of almost 50% when compared to geogrid. It was shown that the resonance frequency varies with the type of reinforcing mechanism [12]. ...
Article
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This paper exhibits an experimental study the effect of numbers of layers of reinforcement on the behavior of shallow footing under machine foundation. A reinforcement was inserted in to the sandy soil of relative density 50% during the raining techniques with 30*30cm at distance (0.5B, B,2B,3B) in a steel container with dimensions (50*50*55) cm. The test was performed under a machine foundation at frequency 10, 15 HZ. This research aims to find the optimal number of layers of reinforcement with geogrid under the square foundation under the machine foundation. For this purpose, laboratory experiments were conducted. The factors that were studied to find the optimal number of layers of reinforcement include the optimal number of layers of reinforcement, as well as displacement amplitude, velocity, acceleration, and settlement. The results showed at frequency 10 HZ, the optimal number of layers was one layer. The percentage of improvement in displacement, velocity, and settlement was (26%,39% and 75%), while acceleration increased when using one layer. At frequency 15 HZ, the optimal number of layers was four layers. The percentage of improvement in displacement, velocity, and settlement was (34%,44% and 66%). We conclude from this research that the type of reinforcement gave good results in reducing displacement amplitude, velocity, and settlement, but does not give good results in reducing acceleration.
... In the past 50 years, there has been a major advancement in the study and use of geosynthetics as reinforcements in the form of reinforced soil earth structures. The primary purpose of reinforcement is to increase the tensile strength of the soil by mobilizing the passive resistance along the transverse ribs and the frictional resistance on the reinforcement [1][2][3]. To improve our grasp of the mechanisms underlying geosynthetic-soil interactions, numerous experimental studies have been conducted [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. ...
Article
Full-text available
In this research paper, the behavior of shallow footing with square and rectangular shapes over geosynthetic reinforced soil was studied. A novel geogrid called “3D tube-geogrid” was utilized for this work. The impact of various reinforcement parameters, including the depth of the final layer (z), length (l), inclination (α), filler material used inside the geogrid tube, relative soil density, and the tensile stiffness of the geogrid (EA), were analyzed by running numerical simulations using PLAXIS 3D V20 software. The simulated data were used to quantify the relationship between the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil and the reinforcement parameters. Several artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as linear regression analysis, a random forest model, and an artificial neural network (ANN), were employed on the generated dataset. To evaluate the preciseness of these techniques, various statistical indicators, such as the squared correlation coefficient (R2), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), mean squared error (MSE), and root-mean-square error (RMSE), were calculated, and error percentages of 20.98%, 12.5%, and 6.4% were obtained for the linear regression, random forest, and ANN, respectively. The numerical study determined the optimal values of the reinforcement parameters length, z/B, inclination, and filling material to be 4B, 3, 0°, and aggregate, respectively.
... Extensive small scale laboratory model tests have been done by Binquet and Lee (1975); Fragaszy and Lawton (1984), Guido et al. (1986), Huang and Tatsuoka (1988), Khing et al. (1992), Manjunath (1996), Bathurst et al. (2003) Chen et al. (2007), Saran et al. (2008), Moghaddas Tafreshi et al. (2016, Sahu et al. (2016), Aria et al. (2017), Saha Roy and Deb (2017), Chen et al. (2021), and Kapor et al. (2023). Various field tests have been covered by Abu-Farsakh et al., (2008), Demir et al. (2013), Venkateswarlu et al. (2018), Zhang et al. (2023) whereas extensive numerical analysis have been studied by Latha and Somwanshi (2009) Demir et al. (2014) Lai and Yang (2017). These studies predict the variation in the bearing capacity of the reinforced granular soil as a function of the layout parameters of the reinforcement. ...
... Given the complexity of the geocell behavior, a comprehensive numerical insight into this problem is possible only through a 3D analysis with detailed modeling of the geocell pockets and infill material in their original forms. Despite the challenges associated with such an analysis, many research works have been devoted to the 3D study of geocell-reinforced soils using the finite element method (Hegde et al. 2016;Arvin et al. , 2019Vibhoosha and Bhasi 2021;Ari and Misir 2021) and finite difference method (Han et al. 2008;Madhavi Latha and Somwanshi 2009;Saride et al. 2009;Yang et al. 2010;Hegde and Sitharam 2015a,b,c;Hegde et al. 2016;Hegde and Sitharam 2017a;Oliaei and Kouzegaran 2017;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Kazemian and Arvin 2019;Gedela and Karpurapu 2021). ...
Article
Most research studies on the behavior of footings on geocell-reinforced slopes were conducted using experimental model tests on small-scale slopes. Very few studies can be found in relation to 3D analyses using detailed geocell structures. It is, therefore, the aim of the present study to investigate this problem by using a 3D finite element analysis. The study begins with verifying the accuracy of the applied finite element method using the results of the experimental model tests on the unreinforced and geocell-reinforced footings on slopes. It continues with studying the effects of main design factors such as the slope angle (β), the depth of the geocell mattress (u), the soil internal friction angle (ϕ), and the footing setback (a) on the bearing capacity of the geocell-reinforced footings. Numerical results suggest that an increase in soil internal friction angle and a decrease in slope angle would both enhance the bearing capacity of unreinforced and reinforced footings. The geocell reinforcement proves to be more effective in improving the bearing capacity of steeper slopes with small friction angles. In addition, the optimum depth of the geocell placement was found to be 0.1 times the footing width (0.1B) regardless of the β and ϕ. Irrespective of the β, the optimum footing setback ratio (a/B) was obtained at 0.5. As a/B ˃ 2, the effect on bearing capacity vanishes. At a constant footing setback ratio (a/B < 2), the use of geocell reinforcement is more effective for steeper slopes. The findings in this numerical study are of practical significance to the geotechnical engineering community.
... Generally, the vibration screening measures are either taken at the source, at the receiver, or along the propagation path. Several researchers utilized soil bags, geocell reinforcements and rubber sheets at the source to screen unwanted vibrations (Liu et al. 2014;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Ujjawal et al. 2019;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020a;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020b;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2020c;Tafreshi et al. 2022;Venkateswarlu and Hegde 2022). However, these techniques are preferable when a dynamic source is confined to a region. ...
... The three-dimensional geocell offers a better solution for meeting stringent settlement constraints and elevating load transfer efficacy in this scenario. The three-dimensional network of interconnected cells is proven effective in reducing the stress on underlying layers and is effectively applied in various engineering applications like foundations, embankments, retaining structures, buried pipelines, etc. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. Various studies have compared geocell performance over planar geosynthetic forms like geotextile and geogrid [32,33]. ...
Article
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Column-supported embankments are proven efficient in enhancing the bearing capacity of soft ground. The effect of geosyn-thetic encasement depends on the length and stiffness of the encasing material. With a basal geocell, the stress transferred to the subgrade is lowered, and the optimum encasement length can be reduced. Strain-controlled model tests were performed on soft clay reinforced with an encased stone column with basal geocell. Three different geotextiles were used to fabricate the encasement and geocell. Two dimensionless factors were introduced-improvement factor (IF) and successive improvement index (SII), to evaluate the independent effect of geocell and the effect of encasement length, respectively. The critical length of encasement l cr is evaluated at SII of 10% for the bearing capacity of clay and stress on the column. The test results indicate that basal geocell reduces a stone column's critical encasement length regardless of the material stiffness and stress-settlement levels. Geocell enhances bearing pressure and lowers stress on soft ground and stone columns. The lateral spreading enables the load to be distributed evenly on the stone column-reinforced ground, thus reducing the stress concentration ratio. The reduction in l cr arises from the fact that geocell dominates the action of the stone column, making the strain mobilized in the lower half of the column unutilized. Hence, the impact of geocell is unaffected by the increase in encasement length beyond 2/3rd of the column depth. For stiffer materials, the performance is enhanced at higher stress levels upon mobilization of adequate strain on the encasing sleeve and geocell walls. The numerical simulations carried out were validated with experimental observations.
... However, only limited studies were focused on the performance of layered granular materials stabilized with TAG reinforcement using large-scale testing chamber. In addition, to determine the bearing pressure of geosynthetic reinforced granular material, finite element analysis has been proven to be an efficient tool for predicting settlements, stresses, and forces exerted in the geogrids and granular materials during failure [28][29][30][31][32]. ...
Article
Triaxial geogrid (TAG) reinforcements are highly desirable modern techniques that improve the bearing pressure of granular materials. Improvement of the bearing pressure of a granular material (homogenous and layered systems), stabilized with polypropylene TAG reinforcement, is examined by using plate load tests and a unique numerical constitutive Tensar stabilized soil model (TSSM). The study is focused to evaluate: (a) the mechanical performance of unstabilized granular soil (homogenous) and aggregates overlying granular soil (layered system); (b) the effect of embedded depths (ut) of TAG-reinforced stabilized granular materials; and (c) to estimate the improvement factors (IF) at a settlement equal to 2% of plate diameter (i.e., S/b = 0.02) for various embedded depth to plate diameter ratios (ut/b). Experimentation and finite element analysis (using TSSM) demonstrate that the TAG reinforcement improves the structural ability of granular materials and thus support traffic loads. The significant research findings are strengthening of granular materials for the ideal embedded depth. The good agreement between realistic testing approaches and numerical predictions emphasizes the significant strengthening of granular materials using TAG reinforcement in these circumstances.
... Tensile stress vs. strain curves of wide-width specimens for fabricated prototype and 3D-printed materials with 5% filling rate, along with a 1:9 scaled curve for the fabricated prototype. [67] Dilation angle at D r of 75 %, ψ ( o ) 6 [67] both commercially or hand-made geocells [10,24,[50][51][52][53]. The reinforcement element may undergo tensile failure due to uneven loading or excessive deformation under footing loading [54,55]. ...
Article
The complexities of scaling have long presented challenges in applying small-scale test results of geocell-reinforced footings to field conditions in geosynthetic engineering. There has been no research that thoroughly examines the scaling of both geometry and material stiffness in geocell-reinforced footing systems although limited studies have attempted to scale geocells using alternative materials with lower strength, such as simile paper, non-woven geotextile etc. Therefore, this is a leading study to address the complexities of scaling using 3D-printing technology, where both geometry and tensile stiffness of geocell were accurately scaled using scaling laws. In the present study, the impact of scaling on the performance of strip footings reinforced with both traditional fabricated and 3D-printed geocells in terms of pressuresettlement response and improvement factors were assessed. The results indicated that 3Dprinted geocells offered significant advantages in customization and rapid prototyping of field scale. Specifically, the strip footings reinforced with fabricated geocells showed up to 65% higher improvement factors in both loose and dense soils compared to those using the scaled 3D-printed geocells. Furthermore, the footings reinforced with scaled geocells using 3Dprinting technologies closely aligned with existing large-scale test results regarding improvement factors, which were further validated through various numerical analyses. These findings offer new perspectives for optimizing and applying 3D-printed geocells in geotechnical engineering and address the longstanding challenge of scaling geocellreinforcement systems in small-scale model tests.
... Often, granular materials are reinforced with different types of geosynthetics to enhance their performance. Several studies highlighted the improvements in the performance of geostructures due to the provision of geosynthetic reinforcements (Venkateswarlu et al. 2018; Bildik and Laman 2020; Hegde and Palsule 2020; Alimohammadi et al. 2021;Baadiga et al. 2021;Dash and Majee 2021;Korini et al. 2021;Anita et al. 2023). Among the geosynthetic materials, geogrids are commonly used for enhancing the performance of a structure (Yu et al. 2019;Kim and Kim 2020). ...
... They illustrated that the geocell reinforced retaining wall showed higher ductility and damping than the geogrid reinforced wall under seismic loading, although, the obtained dynamic resistances of these two reinforcements were the same. Venkateswarlu et al. [19] compared geocells and geogrids reinforced a machine foundation. ...
... In the latter case, at higher amplitudes of acceleration and subsequent vibration displacement, the high shear stiffness along with lateral resistance mechanism induced by the confinement effect of geogrid reinforcement limits horizontal acceleration amplitude [102]. Furthermore, the geogrid reinforcement was found to improve the natural frequency of the GSI bed, in line with the findings of Sreedhar & Abhishek [103] and Venkateswarlu et al. [104]. It is to be noted that, Fig. 39 a Field experiment setup for vibration study b piezoelectric accelerometers for vibration measurement c SRM sample at test site [97] Fig. 40 a Schematic of geogrid-reinforced GSI b photo of GSI bed c photograph of geogrid on partially filled GSI bed [97] typically, rocking vibration for single plate-like footing is negligible when excitation acceleration amplitudes are low. ...
Article
In the present study, a geotechnical seismic isolation (GSI) bed, composed of geosynthetic-reinforced sand–rubber tire shred mixture layer between the base of the building foundation and the supporting soil medium, is considered to mitigate ground vibrations. The index and engineering properties including dynamic properties of sand–rubber tire shred mixtures are carried out to assess their suitability for seismic base isolation of buildings. In addition to that, the liquefaction resistance of sand rubber mixtures is also evaluated. Further, laboratory-based model experiments and Finite Element (FE) modeling was carried out for footing resting on geogrid-reinforced GSI layer under static loading. Further, 2D seismic response of a typical building on GSI was also carried out using finite element code ABAQUS. Finally, results of a series of field experiments conducted to study the response of model footing resting on the geogrid-reinforced GSI bed subjected to horizontal ground vibration are presented. Further, a 3D finite element (FE) model of the field study was developed in the time-domain to simulate and investigate the response of geogrid-reinforced GSI bed on a multi-layered soil system for different surface wave characteristics. In general, it was found that GSI with geogrid reinforcement is found to be effective in the mitigation of ground vibrations due to earthquakes and other source of vibration.
... Pokharel et al. [33] studied the performance of a railway repaired by NPA geocell in a permafrost region and concluded that applying the geocell to the railway was an effective solution for enhancing and sustaining the railway infrastructure. Venkateswarlu et al. [34] conducted large-scale field tests and numerical studies to study the behavior of machine foundation supported by geogrid and geocell-reinforced soil beds. The results illustrated that the geocell reinforcement could effectively control the lateral spreading of vibrations. ...
Article
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In this work, a new type of geocell with high-strength characteristics was applied to support the embankment to improve its performance. To evaluate the performance of an Embankment Reinforced by a New-style geocell, the geocell-reinforced embankment was designed to obtain optimal design parameters by using Abaqus Finite Element program. The parameters, including the aperture size of the geocell, reinforcement spacing, reinforcement length, slope rate, and slope step, were determined by analyzing the mechanical behavior of the embankment reinforced by a new-style geocell based on the safety factor, lateral displacement, and tensile stress on the geocell-reinforced embankment. Then a numerical simulation, where the performance of geocell-reinforced embankment was evaluated in terms of horizontal displacement, vertical displacement, tensile stress, shear stress, and plastic zone compared with unreinforced embankment, was conducted to evaluate the improvement effects of the new-style geocell on the embankment performance. The results revealed that the concentration area of horizontal displacement for the geocell-reinforced embankment, mainly located near the bottom of the embankment, was significantly reduced. The vertical displacement and differential settlement of the embankment were reduced by 13% and 79.6% after reinforcing, respectively. Moreover, the provision of geocell reinforcement greatly influenced the internal stress of the embankment, resulting in a 40% reduction in the distribution area of tensile stress. The comparison between the geocell-reinforced and unreinforced embankment on the plastic zone indicated that the slope toe of the embankment was the weakest position for shear failure, regardless of whether it was reinforced or not.
... More recently, vibration mitigations studies explored geosynthetics with high hysteresis damping for energy dissipation (Yegian and Catan 2004;Haldar and Sivakumar Babu 2009;Alzawi and El Naggar 2011;Tarque et al. 2022). For example, geosynthetic reinforcement was found to enrich the dynamic properties of machine foundation beds by improving the elastic compression, stiffness, and damping ratio (Venkateswarlu et al. 2018) in addition to limiting the lateral spreading of soil subjected to ground vibrations (Hegde and Sitharam 2013;Sreedhar and Abhishek 2016;Vivek and Sitharam 2017). Lately, the authors have improvised the GSI system by reinforcing the SRM layer with geosynthetics such as geogrid (Dhanya et al. 2020) as shown in Fig. 1. ...
Article
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Seismic protection of buildings using the Geotechnical Seismic Isolation (GSI) system placed between the natural soil and the building foundation has recently emerged as an innovative and economical alternative to the traditional base isolation system. The present study aims to experimentally investigate the effectiveness of the GSI system composed of horizontal layers of Sand Rubber Mixture (SRM), a high damping energy-absorbing material reinforced with geogrids for seismic protection of mid-rise buildings. A series of 1-g laboratory shaking table tests were carried out on a five-story model framed structure placed on the GSI system in a laminar shear box filled with sand subjected to input excitation of 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz frequency range. The shake table tests were carried out under different base conditions of model structure: (1) pure sand, (2) SRM-GSI system and, (3) geogrid reinforced SRM-GSI system. The seismic performance of the model structure was compared for test beds with and without the GSI system by evaluating and analysing the recorded acceleration-time histories. The results indicate that while both SRM-GSI and geogrid reinforced SRM-GSI system effectively reduces the acceleration response of the buildings; however, the geogrid reinforcement was highly effective in reducing vertical ground settlement and contributing to improved lateral stiffness compared to the SRM-GSI case. The introduction of the geogrid reinforced SRM-GSI system tends to reduce the lateral displacements on the superstructure by 35%, besides minimizing the foundation rotation. In addition, the geogrid reinforced SRM-GSI system significantly reduces the interstorey drift of the model framed structure. Overall, the effectiveness of the geogrid reinforced SRM-GSI system in reducing seismic damages and permanent displacements of typical mid-rise buildings was experimentally demonstrated in the present study.
... While the factors such as geocell geometry (aspect ratio, aperture size), scaling ratio, and stiffness of geocell walls significantly affect the load transfer mechanism, the characteristics of infill materials have a marginal impact on the improvement factor (Mehrjardi et al., 2019;Hegde & Sitharam, 2017). These advocates replace the conventional granular infill materials like sand and fine aggregate with sustainable alternatives like quarry waste, seashells, and red soil (Han et al., 2010;Jayamohan et al., 2019;Kolathayar & Kumar, 2019;Venkateswarlu et al., 2018;Thakur & Han, 2015), deepening the scope of identifying more such alternatives. Among the various alternatives, a notable one is the used rubber tires. ...
Article
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Scaled model tests were performed on geocell-reinforced granular base over a soft clayey subgrade strengthened with stone columns. The effect of reinforcing the base using geocell is analyzed for bearing stress at a specific settlement under a constant strain rate loading. The influence of geosynthetic stiffness is assessed using two different geotextiles. The feasibility of partial replacement of conventional granular materials (sand and fine aggregate) with rubber tire crumbs is investigated using an optimum rubber content chosen based on a detailed characterization study of sand/fine aggregate samples with varying rubber contents from 5 to 50%. The study is extended to three-dimensional numerical analysis based on finite element modeling. The experimental and numerical observations are in good agreement, revealing a notable improvement in the bearing capacity under the composite system compared to the individual effect of the stone column and geocell. The efficiency of encasement is a direct function of geosynthetic axial stiffness, whereas the geocell’s performance is a composite function of several geometric and mechanical parameters. Moreover, the addition of rubber tire crumbs is found to cause an increase in the frictional characteristics of sand and fine aggregates, improving the composite system’s load capacity and suggesting the feasibility of the same.
... The good performance of geocells in the improvement of mechanical properties of soil has led to their use in various civil engineering projects. Therefore, the various studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of geocells on the behavior of foundations (Thallak et al., 2007;Madhavi Latha and Somwanshi, 2009;Dash, 2012;MoghaddasTafreshi et al., 2016;Venkateswarlu et al., 2018), railways (Yang et al., 2012;Moghaddas Tafreshi et al., 2014;Pokharel et al., 2018;Inti and Tandon, 2021) and retaining wall structures Leshchinsky et al., 2009;Soudé et al., 2013;Chen et al., 2013). Due to the cellular structure of the geocell, the soil particles are surrounded within the geocell layer, leading to an increase in the shear strength of the soil (Moghaddas Tafreshi and Dawson, 2010). ...
Article
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Keywords Abstract Oil-contaminated soil should be remediated or can be used as filling materials. The evaluation of the bearing capacity of geocell-reinforced soil abutment wall is the purpose of the present study under conditions of the backfill contaminated soil through numerical modeling based on PLAXIS 2D. The behavior of the wall is studied based on changes in the amount of oil, the distance between the strip footing and the wall facing (D), the height (hg), the length (L) values and the number of geocell layers as well as the wall slope. The numerical results showed that the maximum length geocell of the layer required is 2.16 times the footing width and the optimum geocell length is equal to 1.0 times the wall height (H). The increase in the geocell height and number of geocell layers leads to an increase in the soil stiffness, leading to an increase in the bearing capacity of footing and decrease in the horizontal displacement of the wall. The results showed that reducing the slope of the wall is very effective in reducing the horizontal displacement of the wall. In general, the soil contamination due to the oil has a negative effect on wall performance. In other words, an increase in the amount of oil reduces the percentage improvement in the wall behavior due to an increase in the height, length and the number of geocell layers.
... The frictional locking effect between the geogrid and granulated sand can improve the shear strength of RSM, thereby enhancing the bearing capacity of the weak foundation and the overall stability of the superstructure. The reinforcement effect of geogrid on ordinary soils has already been extensively studied (e.g., see [10,21,33,40,54,56]. However, to the best of our knowledge, research on the stress-strain-strength behavior of geogrid-reinforced RSM is still very limited. ...
Article
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As a lightweight and energy-dissipating filler, rubber-sand mixture (RSM) is promising for a wide range of applications in civil engineering. However, the shear strength of RSM decreases with higher rubber content compared to that of sandy soil alone. To overcome this issue, geosynthetics are placed within RSM to increase the shear strength and overall stability of the system. This paper focuses on the stress–strain–strength behavior of geogrid-reinforced RSM, with the aim of expanding the application of RSM in geotechnical, traffic and seismic fields. Based on triaxial compression tests, the stress–strain response and strength parameters of geogrid-reinforced RSM considering the effects of reinforcement layers, rubber contents and confining pressures were analyzed. The test results indicate that the strength parameters of the geogrid-reinforced RSM are significantly improved compared to the unreinforced case, and the incremental amplitude increases with increasing the number of reinforcement layers and decreasing the confining pressure. The reinforced RSM with a 20% rubber content (by weight) might be the optimum for the use of reinforcement with geosynthetics. Additionally, a new equation is proposed to estimate the strength reinforcement effect of the composite mixtures, which could provide a reference for subsequent theoretical research and engineering applications.
... The simplified geometry reportedly reduces the accuracy of assessing the load transfer mechanism in geocell [9]. However, in the recent past, the development of highcomputing finite element and finite difference packages has led to a rise in numerical studies incorporating the actual geometry of geocell pockets [10][11][12]. This paper analyzes a threedimensional model of the geocell reinforced embankment for performance during static and repetitive loading conditions under two different geocell reinforcement configurations. ...
Article
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Geocell is a three-dimensional network of interconnected pockets fabricated using planar geosynthetic materials like geogrid or geotextile. When filled with suitable granular materials, the pockets form a rigid composite mat that helps uniform load transfer. The significant effect of geocell arises from the confinement effect offered by the interconnected pockets. The walls resist the shearing of infill soil and mobilize tensile resistance on the walls. The additional rigidity thus developed enables the geocell-soil composite to take up the superimposed loads. The existing equations for the analysis and design of geocell-reinforced systems are based on performance under static loads. However, geocell reinforced embankments are commonly subject to rail or road traffic which comprises repetitive loads. Hence, it is imperative to study the performance of geocell-reinforced embankments under repetitive loads. There is a shortage of time-dependent studies on geocell-reinforced systems. This study addresses the crucial gap in analyzing the time-dependent performance of geocell-reinforced embankments under repetitive loads. The actual curvature of honeycomb-shaped pockets is carefully modeled for accurate analysis of the load transfer mechanism of geocell-reinforced soil. The study analyses two different geocell configurations that are conventionally adopted in practice. In the first case, the geocell platform is placed at the embankment base and restrained within the toe of the embankment. In the second case, the platform is extended on both sides to serve as a working platform. The embankment is constructed in stages over a cohesive subgrade. The time-dependent response of the embankment over the geocell platform is then analyzed for static and repetitive loads to assess the performance of geocell-supported embankments under different loading applications. The lateral deformation at the toe, stress on the subgrade, and heave characteristics are analyzed for time. It is observed that the presence of geocell at the embankment base not only reduces the stress transferred to the subgrade but also mitigates differential settlement over time. Under repetitive load, the effect of geocell reinforcement is reflected in the reduction of surface heave. Both configurations, namely the geocell mat within the embankment boundaries and the geocell working platform extended on both sides, reduce stress on the subgrade. However, for a significant reduction in surface heave, it is recommended to place the geocell mat as a working platform extending beyond the embankment toe on both sides
... However, when the base diameter is twice its original size and they touch each other, the maximum BC of the intervening circular/annular base is obtained. In the last few decades, numerical simulations have been used to investigate the effect of shallow plate interference in homogeneous medium [25,36,71] and in special cases in heterogeneous soil considering stochastic numerical analysis [72][73][74][75][76][77][78]. . These studies showed the failure mechanism, stress area, strain and deformation of the soil under the foundations. ...
Conference Paper
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Reinforced soil foundation with geosynthetics (GRS) can improve the bearing capacity of the foundation and reduce the foundation settlement, which has been widely used for the treatment and improvement of soft soil foundation. In recent years, researchers have conducted many studies to show the effect of various factors on the load and settlement behavior of GRS foundations. In this study, the strengthening mechanisms of reinforced materials are first briefly stated, and then an overview of the history of planar geosynthetic reinforced foundations from the aspects of experimental studies, numerical simulations, and theoretical analyzes is provided. Finally, the current research trends of reinforced Pi and prospects for future study are discussed. Although research on the performance of GRS foundations has been extensively conducted, In the range investigated by the authors, which is believed to cover general fill soils and geosynthetic reinforcements, the creep rate of soils and reinforcements had little effect on the reinforcement load and the "double-wedge" deformation mode, but the stiffness of the reinforcement played an important role. . On these two answers the walls of the GRS. It was also found that the "two-piece" deformation mode could be constrained if a sufficiently long amplifier was used. The study shows that it is reasonable to investigate the reinforcement load of reinforced soil walls subjected to seismic loading without considering the previous long- term creep. Finally, a conclusion of this paper presents the results of numerical parametric
... On the other hand, only a limited number of full-scale field studies have been carried out on the footings [36] and the strength of roads [5,14,17] supported with geosynthetics. Although few small-scale studies have shown the effects of loads on buried pipelines strengthened with geosynthetics, there are very limited investigations for largescale field tests on buried pipe applications in reinforced soil, especially under impact loading. ...
Article
This paper introduces the results of eight full-scale impact load tests on soils reinforced with geocell, geogrid, strip geogrid, composite structures of both geogrid and strip geogrid and geotextiles of varying densities and thicknesses on buried HDPE (high-density polyethylene) pipes of 600 mm diameter and 2000 mm length. Two pressure cells were inserted into the soil, and two accelerometers instrumented the pipe to understand the geosynthetic protective layers' relative merit and pressure absorption capacities. A concrete cube block of 3125 N was dropped from a height of 3000 mm for impact loading. In addition to acceleration and pressure measurements , the relative costs of the geosynthetics used in the experiments were compared. Concerning the reference test, it was observed that geotextile (800 gr/m 2) was the best-performing reinforcement material in terms of pressure absorption (46.6 %) and acceleration reduction capacities (83.3 %). Composite structures of both geogrid and strip geogrid performed better in acceleration and pressure absorption capabilities than their traditional counterparts. Considering the pressure absorption (9.5 %) and acceleration reduction (33.3 %), the material with the lowest performance was geocell. The most efficient application was provided by geogrid regarding on reduction in acceleration per unit cost. Comparing results with those obtained from previous laboratory-scale experiments indicates a general agreement.
... For these reasons, only a few studies were devoted to employing this approach. See for examples in the embankments (Leshchinsky and Ling 2013;Wang et al. 2013;Liu et al. 2018;Arvin et al. 2019;Mehdipour et al. 2020;Ardakani and Namaei 2021), in the slopes (Kazemian and Arvin 2019), and in the foundations (Han et al. 2008;Saride et al. 2009;Yang et al. 2010;Sitharam 2015a, b, 2017;Oliaei and Kouzegaran 2017;Venkateswarlu et al. 2018;Ari and Misir 2021). Alternatively, a less complicated approach is to utilize an equivalent composite model (ECM), in which the geocell-infill composite is replaced with a soil layer having increased stiffness and strength properties. ...
Article
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A numerical procedure is developed in this paper using the limit equilibrium method (LEM) to assess the load-settlement behavior of the geocell-reinforced shallow footings resting on 2D and 3D homogeneous foundation beds. The proposed bearing capacity of the geocell-reinforced footings is a combination of both the unreinforced bearing capacity and an additional load-bearing of the geocell mattress caused by the confinement and the load dispersion. Instead of total mobilization of the resisting mechanisms, which is the underlying assumption of the available LEMs, a partially mobilized resisting mechanism is assumed to be a function of the footing settlement and geocell aspect ratios, and the unknowns of the hypothesized formulations are obtained through an optimization procedure so that the results of the theoretical expression are compatible with those of the experimental model tests. The proposed analytical formulation adequately captures the load–displacement behavior and is considered a helpful tool to predict the behavior of the geocell-reinforced footings reinforced foundations.
... The vibrations are well controlled by geocell reinforcement. Venkateswarlu et al. [20] have compared the displacement behaviour of geogrids and geocell reinforcement and concluded that geocell have less displacement compare with geogrids. The bearing capacity of circular rigid foundations increases when the reinforcement and the friction angle increases. ...
Article
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A type of geosynthetic material named geogrid plays a pivotal role in the behaviour of concrete by implementing them as an additional reinforcement. Geogrids have good tensile strength as they are formed by the reticulation of tensile elements with an opening of an ample size which allows interlock with the nearby fill materials. These grids are flexible mesh which is highly effective and enhances the life of the structure. The prime constituents of geogrid are polyester, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene. More often, in the field of civil engineering,uni-axial, bi-axial and tri-axial geogrids are used. As the cost and duration of construction are nominal, geogrids can be optedfor cost-effective and resilient construction. They are frequently used as reinforcement and for stabilization in structures like retaining walls, pavements, foundations, slopes, and embankments. The geogrids are employed in various construction which results in sustainable development. Thus, this paper discusses diverse studies that have been carried out by using different types of geogrids for various purposes by different research scholars.
Article
In this paper, plate loading tests were conducted to investigate the load and deformation behaviors of the geogrid-reinforced sand foundation under circular footing with a diameter of 0.4 m. The parameters examined include the reinforcement tensile stiffness, the number of reinforcement layers, and the spacing between reinforcement layers. The vertical stresses in the soil, surface deformations and strains in geogrids were monitored during loading. Test results show that the efficiency of geogrids in improving soil's bearing capacity is closely related to footing settlement. The larger the settlement, the better the reinforcing effect as s/D > 3%, where s and D is the settlement and diameter of circular footing, respectively. The stiffness, spacing and number of reinforcements significantly influence the stress distribution effect of geogrid-reinforced zone. The effective influencing depth and diameter of the stress distribution effect are approximately 3D and 1.4D, respectively. Generally, the maximum tensile strain in the geogrids occurs around the footing center, while the maximum compressive strain is located at approximately 1D from the center. The maximum tensile strain is greater affected by the vertical spacing, whereas the number of reinforcement layers has a significant effect on the maximum compressive strain.
Article
In recent years, the surge in construction and demolition waste (CDW) has created significant disposal challenges. This study focuses on addressing the disposal challenges associated with the growing CDW by utilizing recycled materials reinforced with geocells. It aims to assess the performance of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) and recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) for application in granular sub-base (GSB). Model pavement sections were constructed in the laboratory to compare the performance of conventional aggregates (CA), RCA, and RAP as infill materials under unreinforced and geocell reinforced conditions. The pavement sections were tested under repeated loading using haversine loading pattern to simulate the real-world traffic loading conditions. The research employed a comprehensive experimental approach, including instrumentation to measure settlement, pressure distribution, and strain along the reinforcement walls. Results demonstrated that geocell reinforcement significantly enhances the pavement performance, reducing plastic settlement by 27 to 41% compared to unreinforced sections. RCA exhibited comparable performance to CA, attributed to the self-cementation effect offered by the fine mortar present in RCA. However, RAP pavement sections exhibited premature failure due to the lower load-bearing capacity of RAP caused by the presence of adhered asphalt mortar and lack of support from weak subgrade. The provision of geocell reinforcement improved the rutting resistance of all the infill materials used in comparison with their respective unreinforced pavement sections. Geocell reinforcement reduced the accumulated residual pressure at the subgrade level by 28.6, 33.5, and 19.2% in the case of CA, RCA and RAP respectively. In geocell reinforced pavements, maximum strain is observed with RAP infill followed by RCA and CA infill materials. Life cycle cost analysis revealed substantial long-term economic benefits of geocell-reinforced pavements, with maintenance costs reduced by approximately 50% over a 20 year period. Overall, the study advances the geocell reinforcement technique to use RCA in bulk quantity in GSB application, offering sustainable, eco-friendly, economical, and long-lasting pavements.
Article
It is essential to protect sensitive equipment located in the vicinity of vibration sources (VS). As the well-known method of using wave barriers is ineffective to protect facilities that are located very close to a VS, in this study the effect of a thin rubber sheet to protect a nearby foundation (NF) was assessed. This was achieved experimentally at a site using a semi-large scale machine foundation model as the VS and a similar concrete foundation as the NF. The effects of the rubber sheet position (beneath the VS and NF) and of the rubber sheet thickness (6, 12, 18 and 24 mm) were assessed within the vibration frequency range 10–70 Hz and at various NF to VS distances (Distance/Foundation Width = 1 to 10). The testing illustrates that, by increasing the rubber sheet thickness beneath the VS/NF, there is a consequential resonant response frequency reduction at the NF. Moreover, it was found that placing the rubber sheet beneath the VS is more efficient at reducing the NF's resonant amplitude while placing the rubber sheet beneath the NF is more effective in protecting the NF from the resonant frequency variation. This is due to the dominance of the VS's resonant frequency.
Article
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This manuscript presents a mini review on the potential new application of geocell in the mitigation of ground vibration. An effort has been made to provide a detailed quantification and mechanisms involved in the vibration isolation performance of geocells. The latest studies on the topic are summarized in three sections, namely, experimental, numerical, and analytical studies. Details on the optimum dimension of geocells, depth of placement, and suitable infill materials for effective isolation of vibrations have been covered. Further, the mechanism responsible for the superior vibration isolation performance of the geocells is highlighted. In addition, analytical equations and machine learning-based models for predicting the isolation performance of the geocells are discussed. The study reveals that geocell is very effective in isolating ground vibrations as compared to other forms of geosynthetics. Geocells were found to enhance dynamic properties and reduce the amplitude of vibrations significantly.
Article
The present investigation includes experimental and ANN-based intelligent modeling to explore the dynamic interference effect of closely positioned vibrating foundations placed on unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced soil beds. Large-scale field block vibration tests are conducted on isolated and interacting block footings placed on prepared foundation beds at IIT Kanpur, India. The dynamic interaction of various combinations of two-footing assemblies is examined where one footing (active footing) is excited with dynamic loadings, and the other (passive footing) carries static loadings. The tests involve three eccentric force settings for four distinct footing combinations at different clear spacings and reinforcement conditions. The responses of both footings are recorded at different loading frequencies. The interaction effect is presented in terms of the transmission ratio plotted against the frequency ratio. Additionally, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is developed using the recorded field datasets to anticipate the dynamic interference effect. The predicted outcomes of the ANN model demonstrate promising agreement with the experimental findings reported in the literature, indicating the reliability and robustness of the intelligent model.
Article
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A numerical analysis was conducted using PLAXIS 3D software on a geocell-reinforced pavement over a soft subgrade under cyclic loading conditions. This study illustrates surface deformation and vertical stress within the subgrade layer of a reinforced pavement. The accuracy of the FE model was confirmed by comparing the results ofthe present study with those reported in the literature. This study investigated the influence of various factors, such as different infill and subgrade materials inreinforced pavements, on the overall pavement performance. These findings were compared with those observed for conventional planar-reinforced pavements. For improved infill and subgrade materials, the total surface deformation of the reinforced section decreased by approximately 15%–40%. Compared with the improvement in subgrade properties, a significant reduction of approximately 10% was observed inthe pressure response at the subbase-subgrade interface when using improved infill material. Moreover, compared to the planar-reinforced pavement, the geocell-reinforcedpavement reduced vertical stress at the interface between the base and subgrade by approximately 26%.
Article
This study uses a semi-analytical approach to analyse a machine foundation under in influence of combined harmonic and pulse loading. The system is modelled as elastic-perfectly plastic, elastic–plastic hardening, and elastic–plastic softening single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system using bilinear resistance function. Pulse loading induced due to a distant blast is described by the modified Friedlander’s equation that accounts for both positive and negative phases. Three computational cases of analysis are considered, and analytical expressions are formulated. Response of the SDOF system in term of displacement–time history is obtained employing appropriate initial conditions. The response time histories obtained for various input parameters are utilized to investigate the impact of negative phase of blast loading on the machine soil-foundation system. This is found to be quite significant especially for more flexible systems and systems with lower damping ratio values. Two peak values of displacement are observed and for a specific value of wave decay parameter, b, the absolute value of second peak displacement can be twice as high as that of first peak displacement. Influence of parameters such as damping ratio, mass of soil-foundation system, magnitude of applied loads, hardening/softening index affect the response significantly which is quantified for various cases of the analysis.
Chapter
Ground modification refers to a variety of processes for enhancing the engineering characteristics of the ground. It works in several soil types, including collapsible, expansive, soft, and mechanically deficient soils. Strips, bars, sheets, membranes, and fibers are examples of reinforcing materials that can help to strengthen the ground. Natural fiber materials, rather than synthetic ones, have recently gained appeal in sustainable geotechnics as a soil reinforcement strategy. Cost, mass availability, and environmental friendliness are all advantages of natural fibers versus synthetic fibers. Natural fibers, on the other hand, differ fundamentally from synthetic fibers, and fiber-reinforced soil’s behavior is influenced by both physical and features. In the present review, the brief history, characterization, and properties of natural fiber material are extensively discussed. Review also attempts to explore the advantage and disadvantage of natural fiber material. The degradation mechanism and the treatment method are also presented. As well as the soil reinforcement application, review on the application of geosynthetic and natural fiber as reinforcement in the foundation bed under different loading conditions is presented. Based on the detailed literature review, this paper lay out identified research gaps and present future direction for research.
Chapter
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Development of highways and railways play crucial role in a nation’s economic growth. While rigid concrete pavements are durable with high load bearing characteristics, growing economies mostly rely on flexible pavements which enables easier and economical construction. The strength of flexible pavement is based on the strength of subgrade and load distribution characteristics of intermediate granular layers. In this scenario, to simultaneously meet economy and strength criteria, it is imperative to strengthen and stabilize the load-transferring layers, namely subbase, and base. Geosynthetic reinforcement in planar and cellular forms has been proven effective in improving soil stiffness and providing a stable load transfer platform. The present study investigates the efficiency of geocells over single/multiple layer geogrid reinforcements by a series of three-dimensional model analyses of a flexible pavement section under a standard repetitive wheel load. The geocell network modeled with actual curvature is assumed to be embedded in the granular base with hard contact without separation. Stress transfer mechanisms and deformation profiles under various reinforcement configurations are also studied. Geocell reinforcement is observed to take up a higher proportion of stress caused by the traffic loads compared to single and double-layer geogrid reinforcements. The efficiency of single geogrid reinforcement reduces with an increase in embedment depth. The contribution of lower geogrid is insignificant in the case of the double-geogrid reinforced system.
Article
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Soil grain size distribution has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of geotechnical materials. This study presents a laboratory investigation into the effects of fine content and grading factors on shear parameters. A series of shear tests and triaxial tests on sandy soils were performed for this aim. Finally, the outcomes of both strategies were compared and assessed. It was discovered that altering the grain size distribution results in changing the values of shearing parameters. Furthermore, the outcomes of different laboratory tests are not the same.
Article
Based on laboratory tests and the discrete element method (DEM), this study investigated the reinforcement by geocells on the compressive process of asphalt mixture. By considering the vital material features and mechanical properties of different ingredients (the three-dimensional irregular shapes and elastic properties of coarse aggregates and geocells, the viscoelastic properties of asphalt mastic, and the random distribution of air voids within asphalt mastic), micromechanical modeling of geocell-reinforced asphalt mixture and virtual uniaxial compression test was built by using PFC3D. The effects of geocell reinforcement on the compression process of the asphalt mixture were evaluated through the virtual compression test. The results show that the built DEM and virtual test can effectively predict the compression process of geocell-reinforced asphalt mixture. The geocell reinforcement positively affected the compression process of asphalt mixture by affecting the distribution of micromechanical forces and displacements in the asphalt mixture. Moreover, the geocell reinforcement was more significant on asphalt mastic. This indicates that the geocell significantly improves the compressive performance of asphalt mixture from the microscopic perspective.
Article
In this study, geocell reinforcements are proposed as a thrust countermeasure for shallowly buried pipeline bends and tees. The proposed method is easy to construct and has shorter construction time since it does not require curing compared to conventional concrete blocks. The lateral loading tests were conducted on the plates reproducing pipe bends or tees to verify their effectiveness while understanding deformation mechanisms. In addition to changing the conditions of plate width and geocell pocket size, additional experiments were conducted with different geocell reinforcement dimensions, geocell tensile stiffness and seam tensile properties. An equation for predicting the force-displacement relationship was developed as part of the proposed design method. The experimental results showed that the sides of the reinforced ground are not fully integrated when the width of the geocell reinforcement is large relative to the plate width. It was also found that the maximum force hardly decreased, although the displacement increased slightly due to the reduction of the tensile stiffness of the geocell and the tensile force at the geocell seams. Moreover, a hyperbolic approximation of the displacement-force relationship for geocell reinforcement loaded was proposed, and the calculated values agreed well with the experimental values.
Article
One of the most governing factors in the design of the foundation supporting the vibration sources is to reduce the amplitude of vibration. Vibration generated from industrial machinery is frequency dependant, and frequency has a significant influence on these design factors. Therefore, this manuscript describes the influence of frequency of loading on the vibration mitigation efficacy and the behaviour of geocell reinforced bed using the experimental and numerical studies. As part of the experimental study, a series of field vibration tests have been performed over the unreinforced and geocell-reinforced soil beds by varying the frequency of loading between 15 and 45 Hz. Using field tests, different vibration isolation parameters namely, velocity reduction ratio (VRR), vibration mitigation efficiency and attenuation coefficient have been studied. Numerical analysis has been conducted using FLAC3D to demonstrate the variation of VRR with respect to some of the key parameters namely, footing shape, geocell area, and relative density of infill. From the experimental results, vibration mitigation efficiency of geocell reinforced beds corresponding to distinct frequencies of loading i.e., 15 Hz, 25 Hz, and 45 Hz was observed as 39%, 43%, and 49%, respectively. The attenuation coefficient of a geocell reinforced bed was found to increase with the increase in frequency. Use of geocell reinforcement, notably minimized the strain generated over the foundation bed. However, the strain corresponding to the unreinforced and geocell-reinforced beds was increased with the increase in frequency of loading. VRR was found to decrease with the increase in geocell area and relative density of the infill material.
Article
The response of soil beds reinforced with multi-layer geocell systems that support machine foundations is investigated by laboratory testing that incorporates vertical machine vibrations of a square concrete foundation (400 × 400 mm) resting on soil that is unreinforced or reinforced with single-, double- or triple geocell layers. The tests are performed under three different vibration moment levels and three static force levels using a mechanical oscillator and concrete blocks, respectively. The vibration responses are studied in terms of resonant amplitude, resonant frequency, shear modules and damping coefficient. The results reveal that the resonant amplitude significantly reduced in the presence of geocell reinforcement whereas the resonant frequency, shear modulus and damping coefficient increased. In the range of applied vibration load and frequency, and hence the induced amplitude, maximum improvement (i.e., the greatest reduction in vibration amplitude) was observed in the presence of the triple-layer geocell reinforcement. Since the rate of improvement decreases steadily with an increase in the number of geocell layers, thus, further geocell layers would deliver little further benefit. The optimum placement depth of the first geocell layer and vertical spacing of the geocell layers were found to be 0.1 and 0.05 of the foundation's width respectively.
Article
This paper presents the results of centrifuge model tests to investigate the deformation behavior of unreinforced and reinforced transparent soil foundations under strip loading. Digital image analysis technique was employed to obtain the soil displacement field and strain distribution of reinforcements. Two-dimensional numerical models were developed and verified using the test results. The soil was modeled as a linearly-elastic perfectly-plastic material with Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The reinforcement was characterized using a linearly-elastic model with considering rupture behavior. Moreover, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the load-settlement response of foundations, distribution of reinforcement tension and failure sequence of reinforcements. The experimental and numerical studies show that the results obtained from the numerical simulations are in good agreement with the results of the centrifuge model tests. The two-dimensional finite difference model developed using the user-defined functions coded into the program FLAC can better simulate the progressive failure of the reinforcement layers in the tests. The failure sequence of reinforcement layers is not affected by the modulus and internal friction angle of soils and the reinforcement length, but is closely related to the combining effect of spacing and number of reinforcement layers and the combining effect of reinforcement stiffness and strength.
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This study presents a full-scale model investigation on variations of soil stress in a geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported track bed at various water levels and loading cycles, with four testing procedures: water level rising, cyclic loading at high water level, water level lowering, and cyclic loading at low water level. The soil arching effect was revealed, characterized by higher stress above the pile cap. With the water level rising and loading cycles increasing at high water level, this effect becomes more pronounced, until a peak value of dynamic stress concentration ratio is reached. The stable state of soil arching is obtained earlier near the crown of soil arching, but this arching effect develops more significantly at the foot of soil arching. With the water level lowering and loading at low water level, the soil arching effect remains steady, with slightly changed dynamic stresses in the track bed. The geogrid shows a significant impact on the load transfer mechanism for the quasi-static stress: the quasi-static pile-cap stress presents higher values below the geogrid, whereas the opposite trend is observed for the water-bag (subsoil) area. Nevertheless, this mechanism is not obvious with respect to the dynamic stress, with the values showing no distinct difference above and below the geogrid.
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Railway industries are placing greater emphasis on implementing fast and heavy haul corridors for bulk freight and commuter transport in order to deliver more efficient and cost-effective services. However, increasing dynamic stresses from the passage of trains progressively degrades and fouls the primary load-bearing ballast layer, which inevitably leads to excessive settlement and instability, damage to track elements, and more frequent maintenance. Ballasted tracks are subjected to even greater stresses and faster deterioration in sections where a reduced ballast thickness is used (e.g., bridge decks) or at locations where heavier concrete sleepers are used instead of lightweight timber sleepers. The inclusion of under sleeper pads (USPs) at the base of a concrete sleeper is one measure used to minimize dynamic stresses and subsequent track deterioration. In this study, cyclic loads from fast and heavy haul trains were simulated using a large-scale process simulation prismoidal triaxial apparatus (PSPTA) to investigate the performance of ballast improved by USPs. The laboratory results indicate that the inclusion of an elastic element at the harder interface of the concrete sleeper-ballast reduces the stresses transmitted to the ballast and the underlying layers and minimizes the amount of deformation and degradation of the ballast. A three-dimensional finite-element model was used to predict the behavior of ballast, and the influence of USPs on the stress-strain responses of ballast generally agree with the experimental findings.
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Currently, geosynthetic reinforcements for slopes are calculated assuming the ground strength to be purely frictional, i.e. without any cohesion. However, accounting for the presence of even a modest amount of cohesion could allow using locally available cohesive soils as backfills to a greater extent and less overall reinforcement. But cohesive soils are subject to the formation of cracks that tend to reduce slope stability so their presence has to be accounted for in the design of the slope reinforcement. In the paper, limit analysis was employed to derive a semi-analytical method for uniform c-ϕ(symbol) slopes that provides the amount of reinforcement needed as a function of ground cohesion, tensile strength, angle of shearing resistance and of the slope inclination. Both climate induced cracks as well as cracks that form as part of the slope collapse mechanism are accounted for. Design charts providing the value of the required reinforcement strength and embedment length are plotted for both uniform and linearly increasing reinforcement distributions.From the results, it emerges that accounting for the presence of cohesion allows significant savings on the reinforcement to be made, and that cracks are often significantly detrimental to slope stability so they cannot be overlooked in the design calculations.
Conference Paper
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Results of forced-and free-vertical vibration tests carried out on model foundation resting on dense sand are presented. Tests were conducted in unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced sand to evaluate the effect of reinforcement on dynamic characteristics of soil-foundation system. Dynamic force was applied using a laboratory electro-dynamic shaker. Frequency of external force was varied and acceleration response of the foundation was recorded at respective frequency. Free vibration of foundation was induced by giving hammer blow and the response was measured. From the test results, the natural frequency/resonant frequency and damping factor were evaluated. Results have shown that soil reinforcement increased the natural frequency of the soil–foundation system and reduced peak amplitude of vibration. Dynamic shear modulus and damping of unreinforced and reinforced sand were also estimated from the experimental results. The behavior of prototype foundation was interpreted using proper scaling laws and found to be in the practical limits. 1. INTRODUCTION Analysis and design of machine foundations require special considerations because machines transmit dynamic loads to soil in addition to static loads due to weight of foundation, machine and accessories. The dynamic load due to operation of the machine is generally small compared to the static weight of machine and the supporting foundation (less than 20 %) (Prakash and Puri, 1988). However, machine-induced dynamic load is applied repetitively over a very long period of time, i.e. subjected to large number of cycles. The vibration due to machine operation may increase beyond the tolerable limits under cyclic/dynamic loading, depending on many parameters such as operating frequency, natural frequency and damping of soil-foundation system. Therefore, the amplitude of vibration of machines at its operating frequency is the most important parameter in design of machine foundation, in addition to avoiding the resonance. Typically the resonance is avoided by designing the natural frequency of a soil-foundation system such that it is away from operating frequency of machines by 20 to 50 % in general or even by 100% for few important machines (IS: 2974, 1982). The natural frequency of soil-foundation system is primarily governed by the in-situ dynamic soil properties as well as geometry/mass of foundation. There may a possibility that the in-situ soil condition is not able to either provide the required natural frequency to avoid resonance and/or to satisfy the permissible amplitude criteria. Under such circumstances, the alternates are either to improve the dynamic soil properties by ground modification or by adopting pile foundations. There are studies reported in literature (Al-Homoud and Al-Maaitah, 1996; Baidhya and Rathi, 2004; Ahn et al. 2011, Kumar et al. 2013) which investigated the machine foundation behavior in unreinforced soils. However, there are limited studies reported on behavior of machine foundations in reinforced soils, which are discussed herein. Antes and von Estorff (1994) demonstrated how the dynamic behavior of structures is affected by local non-homogeneities inside the soil. It was observed that, depending on the stiffness of inclusion and especially on the excitation frequency, the dynamic response of the foundation may either increase or decrease. Wasti and Butun (1996) performed the series of laboratory model tests on a strip footing supported by sand reinforced by randomly distributed polypropylene fiber and mesh elements to compare the behavior of footings on reinforced and unreinforced sand. Shin and Das (1999) studied the dynamic behavior of geogrid-reinforced sand by conducting laboratory model tests subjected to cyclic loading of low frequency (1 cps) and transient loading. These tests were conducted with and without geogrid reinforcement in the soil. The maximum permanent settlement due to the cyclic and transient loads in reinforced and unreinforced soils was compared. Authors concluded that geogrid reinforcement can act as a settlement retardant for dynamic loading conditions. Li and Ding (2002) carried out experimental investigation and modeling for understanding the behavior of fiber reinforced soil under cyclic loading. Subaida et al. (2009) investigated the beneficial use of woven coir geotextiles as reinforcing material in a two-layer pavement section. Monotonic and repeated loads were applied on reinforced and unreinforced laboratory pavement sections through a rigid circular plate. Authors found that the bearing capacity was improved significantly and permanent vertical deformation was reduced under repeated loading with inclusion of coir fibers. El Sawwaf and Nazir (2010) carried out the model tests on rectangular footing resting on geogrid reinforced sand under repeated loading and analyzed the bearing capacity and cumulative settlement behavior of footing. It is seen from the literature review that the studies on behavior of machine foundation on reinforced soil is limited and there are ample 479
Conference Paper
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The adverse effects of high frequency vibrations generated by machine foundations or traffic may be prevented through the installation of suitable wave barriers in the ground. Direct Boundary Element Method (BEM) is used to conduct an extensive numerical investigation on the influence of various geometrical and material parameters on the effectiveness of open and in-filled trench barriers in reducing steady-state ground vibrations. Based on the numerical study, empirical design formulae and design guidelines have been proposed for such barriers. The reliability of the numerical results and empirical formulae has been established through comparison with published numerical and experimental data. Field experiments have also been conducted to test the performance of in-filled trench barriers, backfilled with concrete (stiffer material than soil) and soil-bentonite mixture (softer material than soil). The performance of these barriers are experimentally determined and compared with empirical formulae.
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The paper deals with the results of the laboratory cyclic plate load tests performed on the reinforced soft clay beds. The performances of the clay bed reinforced with geocells and geocells with additional basal geogrid cases are compared with the performance of the unreinforced clay beds. From the cyclic plate load test results, the coefficient of elastic uniform compression (Cu) was calculated for the different cases. The Cu value was found to increase in the presence of geocell reinforcement. The maximum increase in the Cu value was observed in the case of the clay bed reinforced with the combination of geocell and geogrid. In addition, 3 times increase in the strain modulus, 10 times increase in the bearing capacity, 8 times increase in the stiffness and 90% reduction in the settlement was observed in the presence of the geocell and geogrid. Based on the laboratory test results, a hypothetical case of a prototype foundation subjected to cyclic load was analyzed. The results revealed that the natural frequency of the foundation-soil system increases by 4 times and the amplitude of the vibration reduces by 92% in the presence of the geocells and the geogrids.
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This paper presents a numerical study performed to investigate the effect of expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam panels placed over a buried pipe. It is recognized that EPS geofoam panels as compressible inclusions over aburied pipe are effective in reducing the earth pressure acting on the pipe due to positive arching action. To date, however, there is no systematicmethodology that links the earth pressure on a buried pipe with the geometry of EPS panels. To investigate the ‘optimal’ geometry of EPS panels, a two-step numerical modeling approach was employed and calibrated against results of a model-scale experimental study. First, material properties were estimated for each component used in the model-scale tests (i.e., soil, EPS geofoamand steel pipe). Second, the model-scale experimentswere simulated using the selected material properties. These simulations resulted in reasonable agreement between model-predicted andmeasuredvertical and lateral earth pressures. Using the calibratedmodel, additional cases thatwere not covered in the experimental study were investigated to examine different widths and thicknesses of EPS panels. The numerical analysis provided quantification of the effect of EPS compressible inclusion and a systematic approach to optimizing the design of buried pipes using EPS geofoam panels.
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The present experimental investigations study the effect of presence of rigid base at any depth within the soil mass on the dynamic response of foundation under vertical mode of vibration. Model block vibration tests on rigid surface footing are conducted on a different soil layer of finite thicknesses underlain by a rigid base. A concrete block of size 400 × 400 × 100 mm is used as the model block, and a Lazan type mechanical oscillator is used for inducing vibration in vertical direction. The finite soil layers of different thicknesses are prepared in a pit at the bottom of which a massive concrete layer of 300 mm thick was cast to represent it as a rigid base. In the investigation two different soils, namely, local in situ soil and sand are used. In total 72 tests are conducted in different loading combinations and soil types, and several important observations are reported. Two different methods are proposed to analyze the dynamic response of a foundation resting on a finite layer underlain by a rigid layer. Finally, the experimental results are compared with the results that were obtained by the proposed method. A Mass-Spring-Dashpot (MSD) model with proper consideration of damping factor is found to provide reasonably accurate results. Elastic Hall Space Theory (EHST) with equivalent soil properties is found to underestimate the displacement amplitude.
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Due to its complex honeycomb structure, the numerical modeling of the geocell has always been a big challenge. Generally, the equivalent composite approach is used to model the geocells. In the equivalent composite approach, the geocell–soil composite is treated as the soil layer with improved strength and stiffness values. Though this approach is very simple, it is unrealistic to model the geocells as the soil layer. This paper presents a more realistic approach of modeling the geocells in three-dimensional (3D) framework by considering the actual curvature of the geocell pocket. A square footing resting on geocell reinforced soft clay bed was modeled using the “fast Lagrangian analysis of continua in 3D” (FLAC3D) finite difference package. Three different material models, namely modified Cam-clay, Mohr–Coulomb, and linear elastic were used to simulate the behaviour of foundation soil, infill soil and the geocell, respectively. It was found that the geocells distribute the load laterally to the wider area below the footing as compared to the unreinforced case. More than 50% reduction in the stress was observed in the clay bed in the presence of geocells. In addition to geocells, two other cases, namely, only geogrid and geocell with additional basal geogrid cases were also simulated. The numerical model was systematically validated with the results of the physical model tests. Using the validated numerical model, parametric studies were conducted to evaluate the influence of various geocell properties on the performance of reinforced clay beds.
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Field vibration tests were carried out at a proposed site for the vibration testing room, and 2D numerical analysis using finite difference tool FLAC 5.0 was performed to suggest effective vibration isolation systems. In the analysis, the numerical model is first calibrated with respect to material properties, damping value, and boundary conditions to obtain the output comparable to the field test results. The calibrated model was further used to perform a parametric study by (1) providing vibrating input motions from vibrating machines to be operated; (2) using two depths of cutoff trench; and (3) providing gravel bed, gravel bed with rubber pad, and gravel bed with rubber pad and cutoff trench to study the isolation effects. Comparing the results from the parametric studies with the human perception level of vibration, a decision on the isolation system was determined.
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The present experimental investigations study the effect of layering over rigid base on the dynamic behavior of foundation under vertical mode of vibration. Model block vibration tests were conducted on a rigid surface footing resting on different layered soil systems underlain by rigid base. The rigid base was used to simulate the presence of bedrock. The tests were carried out in a pit of size 2.0 m × 2.0 m × 1.9 m (deep) using a concrete footing of size 0.4 m × 0.4 m × 0.1 m. A rotating mass type mechanical oscillator was used for inducing vibration in vertical direction. Different layered soil systems were prepared within the total depth of 1,200 mm over the rigid base. Locally available gravel and fly ash were used to form different layered soil systems. In total, 132 nos. model block vibration tests in vertical mode were conducted for different layering and loading combinations. The experimentally obtained results are also compared with the results obtained from the analysis by mass-spring-dashpot and equivalent half-space theory.
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The failure modes of geocell-reinforced retaining walls differ from those of rigid retaining walls, for which only limited information is available in the literature. In the present study, a series of centrifuge model tests was carried out to investigate the performances of geocell-reinforced retaining walls at limit equilibrium under various conditions. Digital image analysis was employed to determine the displacement vectors of soil and geocell-reinforced soil, which were used to obtain the failure surface and g-level at limit equilibrium. The effects of the geocell pocket size, geocell layer height, geocell membrane tensile stiffness, and backfill surface loading location on the stability and failure mode were investigated. In addition, the preferred layout of geocell-reinforced sections, additional reinforcement layers, and twotiered geocell retaining walls were studied. The test results indicate that the stability of geocell-reinforced retaining walls could be improved by reducing the spans between the welded spots of geocells, increasing geocell-membrane stiffness, and connecting additional geogrid layers to geocell walls. Two-tiered geocell retaining walls performed better than single-tiered ones at the same height. It was also found that the limitequilibrium method for slope stability analysis may be employed to predict the stability and critical failure surfaces of geocell-reinforced retaining walls. Some limitations of the present study are also discussed.
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Rigid piles are used to reinforce soft soil foundations and thus increase embankment stability. This technique is improved by placing one or more geosynthetic reinforcement (GR) layers inside or at the base of the embankment. A series of 33 small scale models were tested using a geotechnical centrifuge. Soft soil settlement was imposed by the downward displacement of atray. First, a series of models were prepared to examine how the load transmitted to the pile network increased with the embankment thickness. Using the same configuration, two identical models were prepared to successively test two different types of GR (geosynthetic reinforcement). Another approach was used to study how the external surcharges applied on the embankment affect load transfer. The results showed that, compared to the piled embankment, the load transfer increased for the case of the geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported embankment (GRPSE) due to the membrane effect. The membrane effect is higher when the GR is stiff and its vertical distance from the pile is reduced. Numerical modelling reveals that, when another GR layer is added, the second GR has an effect only if punching is sufficient. However, the second layer did not reduce embankment settlement.
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Geotextile is an effective reinforcement approach of slopes that experiences various loads such as drawdown. The geotextile reinforcement mechanism is essential to effectively evaluate the safety of geotextile-reinforced slopes under drawdown conditions. A series of drawdown centrifuge model tests were performed to investigate the deformation and failure behaviors of slopes reinforced with different geotextile layouts. The deformation and failure of unreinforced and reinforced slopes were compared and the geotextile reinforcement was indicated to significantly increase the safety limit and the ductility, reduce the displacement, and change the failure feature of slopes under drawdown conditions. The slopes exhibited remarkable progressive failure, downward from the slope top, under drawdown conditions. The progressive failure was induced by coupling of deformation localization and local failure based on full-field measurements of displacement of slopes subjected to drawdown. The geotextile reinforced the slope by decreasing and uniformizing the slope deformation by the soil-geotextile interaction. Through geotextile displacement analysis, the geotextile-reinforced slope was divided into the anchoring zone and the restricting zone by a boundary that was independent of the decrease of water level. The geotextile restrained the soil in the anchoring zone and the soil restrained the geotextile in the restricting zone. The reinforcement effect was distinct only when the geotextile was long enough to cross the slip surface of the unreinforced slope under drawdown conditions.
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While there is significant field evidence of the benefits of geosynthetic-reinforced asphalt overlays, their use has focused on minimizing the development of reflective cracks. Yet, geogrids in asphalt overlays are also expected to develop reinforcement mechanisms that contribute to the pavement structural capacity. Specifically, the use of geosynthetics in asphalt overlays may also improve the mechanical behavior of paved roads by controlling permanent displacements and reducing strains in the pavement layers. While relevant advances have been made towards identifying the mechanisms in geosynthetic stabilization of base courses, such mechanisms may differ from those that develop in geosynthetic-reinforced asphalt overlays. This paper investigates the development and distribution of tensile strains along geogrids used to reinforce asphaltic layers. Experimental data was collected from large-scale paved road models subjected to the repeated loading imparted by wheel traffic. Specifically, the study examines both the elastic and permanent components of displacements induced in geogrids by using mechanical extensometers attached to the geogrids. The testing program includes a number of geosynthetic-reinforced paved road models, as well as a control (unreinforced) section that was also instrumented for comparison purposes. Asphalt strain gauges were used to measure strains within the asphalt concrete layer, providing an additional source of information that proved to be highly consistent with the results obtained from the extensometers. The experimental results showed a progressive mobilization of permanent geogrid strains that reached a final profile beyond which additional traffic loading did not result in additional straining. In comparison, higher strains developed in the unreinforced model, which showed a continuously increasing trend. Elastic tensile strains in the asphalt mixture and rutting under the wheel load were comparatively smaller when using geogrids. Overall, the results generated in this study indicate that the presence of geogrids in asphalt overlays results in a lateral restraining mechanism that influences on the mechanical behavior of flexible pavements.
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In the last few years, the use of geocell reinforcements in various infrastructural projects has gained importance due to its positive benefits. This paper reviews the developments and state-of-the-art pertinent to geocell research and field practices. The geocell studies covering, experimental, numerical, analytical and field performances have been reviewed. Characterization of the geocell has been discussed in detail. The field investigations of the test sections and the performance of the in-service geocell supported structures have been reviewed. A note has been presented on current research trends and the future prospects. A summary of the past research findings has been presented with a discussion on the research gaps in the subject area. It is evident from the past studies that the geocell is evolving as a promising sustainable ground reinforcement technique. Due to an increased use of geocells in the infrastructure projects, there exists an expansive scope for further research to understand the material better.
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Model plate load tests of rigid rectangular footings of different aspect ratios resting on sand overlying soft soil with or without a layer of geogrid at the interface are presented. The width (B) and length (L) of the footings are chosen so that the L/B ratio (aspect ratio) is varied as 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. The study aims to investigate the effects of the aspect ratio of the rectangular footings and the thickness of the sand layer on bearing capacity, settlement characteristics, load-spread angle, and sizes of geogrid layer (at optimum sand thickness). The strain distribution along the reinforcement is also studied. Based on the test results, an analytical method is proposed to calculate the load carrying capacity of rectangular footings resting on reinforced or unreinforced sand over soft soil. It is found that the optimum sand thickness to footing width ratio is not dependent on the aspect ratio of the rectangular footings. However, the optimum sizes of geogrid reinforcement increase with an increase in aspect ratio of the footings. Also, the load-spread angle increases with an increase in aspect ratio. It is also observed that the load-spread angle in the lengthways direction of a footing is smaller than that in the widthways direction, and it is more pronounced in the case of reinforced soil compared to unreinforced soil.
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Continuous welded rail (CWR) tracks have particular advantages over common tracks with jointed rails such as increased ride comfort, reduced noise and vibration and decreased maintenance costs due to the removal of joints in rail connections. Alternatively, some complications associated with CWR tracks, for instance increased lateral forces, are the main reason of track buckling and its subsequent lateral deformation. These problems are usually more severe in curved tracks. In order to overcome the large lateral forces caused by temperature deviations of CWR tracks which results in railway vehicle instability, the ballasted track lateral resistance should be improved. Among the various methods proposed in this area, no specific study has been carried out on the effect of geogrid reinforcement on ballasted track lateral resistance. Thus, the present research was allocated to investigating the effect of geogrid on the lateral resistances of both single tie and track panel via laboratory and field tests. In this regard, at the first stage, the ballast layer was reinforced with various number of geogrid layers, the effect of which was investigated by conducting the single tie push test (STPT) in the lab environment to assess the optimum number of geogrid layers and their installation levels along the ballast layer thickness. Afterwards, a test track was executed in the field including various sections which were reinforced in the same way as the lab tests. Consequently, many STPTs and track panel displacement tests (TPDTs) were accomplished. As a result, the STPTs in the lab and field confirmed more than 31% and 42% increase in single tie lateral resistance for ballast layers reinforced respectively with one and two geogrid layers, while these values were reached to 29% and 40% in the case of TPDT.
Article
Open and in-filled trenches are found to be quite impressive vibration screening technique among the researchers. This paper mainly aimed to examine the efficacy of using intermittent expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam in-filled trench as the vibration barrier, which is practically a combination of geofoam and air pocket placed alternately throughout the depth of the trench. The vibration screening efficiency of intermittent geofoam in-filled trench is determined under a constant force amplitude-type vertical oscillation of a machine resting on a circular embedded foundation. The effect of various parameters such as depth, width, inclination, and location of trench, excitation frequency of the source, and density of geofoam on the screening efficiency of geofoam in-filled is explored using 2D finite element method. The soil is modelled as non-linear elastic under the excitation of moderately high-speed machine. In the presence of machine-induced vibration, the vertical displacement at different locations along the ground surface is captured to determine the amplitude reduction ratio (ARR), which helps in assessing the efficiency of the vibration screening technique.
Article
This paper investigates the influence of geogird reinforcement on slope deformations and its stability under a limited width of surcharge (strip footing with width of 140 mm) on the crest. A series of reduced scale plate load tests were conducted to cover different parameters including two sand-particle sizes (namely fine and coarse sands), three different lengths of geogrid reinforcement and three positions of strip footing from crest of the slope namely "edge distance". Bearing capacity of the footing, failure mechanisms and factor of slope influence are discussed and evaluated. It is found out that the particle size of sands has great influence on the behaviour of reinforced slope and leads to change its modal behaviour especially at failure state. Based on experimental results, to achieve "plane" status conditions, regardless of the edge distance, the proper length of geogrids for fine and coarse sands were obtained 6 times of footing width (L = 6B) and 4 times of footing width (L = 4B), respectively. Also, it was observed that for fine sand, the safe edge distance of footing can be considered D = 3B. However, for coarse sand, this value might be increased to more than 3B. Particularly, critical values of studied parameters for providing maximum reinforcing effects are established.
Article
This paper presents a numerical parametric study on behavior of bearing reinforcement earth (BRE) wallswith different backfill properties using the finite-element method software PLAXIS 2D. The primary objective of this study was to improve the understanding of bearing stress, settlement, lateral earth pressure, and horizontal wall movement of BRE walls with different backfill materials. The second objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of various soil–structure interactions, foundations, and stiffness of reinforcements on horizontal wall deformations. The backfill materials consisted of four types of soil, which were mixtures of silty clay and sand at different fine contents of 2, 20, 40, and 80% by dry weight. The model parameters for the numerical simulation were obtained from the conventional laboratory tests and back-calculated from the laboratory pullout tests of the bearing reinforcement. The geotextile elements were used to model the bearing reinforcements by converting the contribution of friction and bearing resistances to the equivalent friction resistance, which was represented by the soil–bearing reinforcement interaction ratio, Rinter. The values of Rinter decreased following a polynomial function as an increase of fine content in the ranges of 0.65–0.38 and 0.75–0.40 for the numbers of transverse members, n=2 and 3, respectively. The simulated bearing stress in the reinforced zone decreased from the front to the back of the wall because the BRE wall behaved as a rigid body built on the relatively firm foundation retaining the unreinforced backfill. The foundation settlement decreased from the facing of the wall to the unreinforced zone for all backfill properties due to the slight rotation of the wall. The relationship between the maximum horizontal wall movement and the fine content can be expressed by a polynomial function. The maximum horizontal wall movement significantly increased as the fine content increased. The excessive movement was realizedwhen the fine content was greater than 45%. The increase of the fine content moved the location of the maximum wall movement higher up from the mid to the top of the wall. A numerical parametric study was conducted to investigate the soil–structure interaction, foundation, and stiffness of reinforcement. These parameters affected the horizontal wall deformation, which is especially important for serviceability of BRE walls. The knowledge gained from this study provides a preliminary guideline in predicting the behavior of BRE walls and may be used to investigate other BRE walls with different wall heights and features of bearing reinforcements.
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A trench can act as a barrier to ground vibration and is a potential mitigation measure for low frequency vibration induced by surface railways. However, to be effective at very low frequencies the depth required becomes impractical. Nevertheless, for soil with a layered structure in the top few metres, if a trench can be arranged to cut through the upper, soft layer of soil, it can be effective in reducing the most important components of vibration from the trains. This study considers the possibility of using such a realistically feasible solution. Barriers containing a soft fill material are also considered. The study uses coupled finite element / boundary element models expressed in terms of the axial wavenumber. It is found to be important to include the track in the model as this determines how the load is distributed at the soil's surface which significantly affects the insertion loss of the barrier. Calculations are presented for a range of typical layered grounds in which the depth of the upper soil layer is varied. Variations in the width and depth of the trench or barrier are also considered. The results show that, in all ground conditions considered, the notional rectangular open trench performs best. The depth is the most important parameter whereas the width has only a small influence on its performance. More practical arrangements are also considered in which the sides of the trench are angled. Barriers consisting of a soft fill material are shown to be much less effective than an open trench but still have some potential benefit. It is found that the stiffness of the barrier material and not its impedance is the most important material parameter.
Article
In this paper the influence of the presence of a rigid boundary in the soil mass on natural frequency and resonance amplitude are studied experimentally by conducting model block vibration tests in vertical mode. The tests are carried out in two different pits in the field: one with rigid base and other with a large depth simulating the half space. A concrete block of size 400× 400 × 100 mm is used as the model block and a Lazan type mechanical oscillator is used for inducing vibration in vertical direction. The soil layers of different thickness are prepared in the pits and the test conducted over the surface of each layer. In total 80 tests have been conducted in different thickness of layer and different static and dynamic loading combinations and several important observations are reported. The results obtained from these two tests pits are also compared with the test result of laboratory test in a tank available in the literature. Damping factor and the stiffness are calculated from the test results. The damping ratio for different layer thickness and different pit conditions are presented.
Article
Tests in model scale have been performed on the vibration isolation effect of various measures in the ground. Solid barriers like concrete core walls as well as rows of bore holes and open trenches are considered. The results are compared to those of theoretical investigations. Emphasis is laid on practical problems in test performance. Refs.
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The results of laboratory model tests and numerical analysis on circular footings supported on sand bed under incremental cyclic loads are presented. The incremental values of intensity of cyclic loads (loading, unloading and reloading) were applied on the footing to evaluate the response of footing and also to obtain the value of elastic rebound of the footing corresponding to each cycle of load. The effect of sand relative density of 42%, 62%, and 72% and different circular footing area of 25, 50, and 100cm2 were investigated on the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand (CEUC). The results show that the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand was increased by increasing the sand relative density while with increase the footing area the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand was decreases. The responses of footing and the quantitative variations of CEUC with footing area and soil relative density obtained from experimental results show a good consistency with the obtained numerical result using "FLAC-3D".
Article
The problem of vibration isolation by rectangular open trenches in a plane strain context is numerically studied using a finite element code, PLAXIS. The soil media is assumed to be linear elastic, isotropic, and homogeneous subjected to a vertical harmonic load producing steady-state vibration. The present model is validated by comparing it with previously published works. The key geometrical features of a trench, i.e., its depth, width, and distance from the source of excitation, are normalized with respect to the Rayleigh wavelength. The attenuation of vertical and horizontal components of vibration is studied for various trench dimensions against trench locations varied from an active to a passive case. Results are depicted in non-dimensional forms and conclusions are drawn regarding the effects of geometrical parameters in attenuating vertical and horizontal vibration components. The screening efficiency is primarily governed by the normalized depth of the barrier. The effect of width has little significance except in some specific cases. Simplified regression models are developed to estimate average amplitude reduction factors. The models applicable to vertical vibration cases are found to be in excellent agreement with previously published results.
Article
In this paper, the performance of geogrid and geotextile in asphalt overlay to delay the rate of reflective crack propagation has been studied based on the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). It was tried to investigate the effect of temperature, crack width, type of geosynthetics (polypropylene nonwoven and glass grid) and interactions between these parameters on the reflective crack propagation. In accordance with the obtained results of RSM, some equations were presented to predict with high accuracy the service life (Nf), vertical crack growth rate and initial strain using quadratic polynomial regression model. In addition, a new relationship between Nf and initial strain and temperature was assembled. Based on the obtained results it was identified that the glass grid has the best effect on improving the overlay performance.
Article
In this study, a full-scale high-speed railway embankment model was established for assessment of the tensile force of the geogrid embedded in the sand cushion. Water bags were distributed around pile caps to create a model of the subsoil. The settlement of the subsoil was determined by the vertical deformation of the water bags. The tensile force of the geogrid, induced by the spreading force of the embankment, and caused by the vertical loads applied to the geogrid, were separately measured by two types of optical fiber sensing approaches, i.e., the pulse-prepump-Brillouin optical time domain analysis (PPP-BOTDA) and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. After the completion of the construction of the embankment, the measured tensile force of the geogrid, caused by the spreading force, is about 12% of that calculated by using the BS8006 standard. During the process of subsoil consolidation, the soil arching in the embankment fully develops as the subsoil settlement increases. At the ultimate limit state, the largest tensile force of the geogrid caused by the vertical loads occurs at the edge of the pile cap, which is about 34% of that calculated by using BS8006. As a design method, BS8006 calculates the tensile force of the geogrid at the ultimate limit state, and the experimental results reveal that the computational procedure specified in BS8006 is safe for determination of the tensile force of the geogrid.
Article
Virtually all analyses of reinforced earth structures are based on two-dimensional (2D) conditions, ignoring three-dimensional (3D) effects despite adhering to three-dimensional behavior in reality. In this study, the three-dimensional effects of three-dimensional conditions on reinforced earth structure stability are considered, and employed to determine the required strength and length of reinforcement using a Limit Analysis approach. The results of the three-dimensional stability analysis are compared with idealized two-dimensional results and examples from prior literature. As expected, use of two-dimensional stability analyses for reinforced soil slopes yield results that are more conservative than those considering three-dimensional effects. The effects of various parameters on the three-dimensional solution are investigated and design charts are proposed. The solutions demonstrate that for practical scenarios, three-dimensional effects may affect the required length of reinforcement more than the associated required tensile strength.
Article
This study uses three-dimensional time-domain finite-element analyses to study the isolation efficiency of open trenches filled with various levels of water. The trench is generated along the X direction, the trench thickness is in the Y direction, and negative gravity is in the Z direction. First, the finite-element model is validated by using field experiments for a full water trench with results in good agreement. A parametric study from finite-element analyses indicates that the efficiency of the water trench is similar to or sometimes better than that of the open trench for X- and Z-direction waves. However, the water trench is not efficient for isolating the Y-direction wave, because the Y-direction wave passing through the water trench is similar to a compressive wave that is difficult to reduce in water. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000530. (C) 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Conference Paper
This paper describes the laboratory tests on small diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes buried in unreinforced and geosynthetic reinforced sand subjected to static loading. The aim of the study was to evaluate the appropriateness of the combination of geocell and geogrid reinforcement system in protecting the underground utilities and buried pipelines. A pipe with external diameter of 75 mm and thickness of 1.4 mm was placed below the footing at different depths ranging from 1B to 2B (where B is the width of the footing). Commercially available Neoweb geocells and biaxial geogrids (SS-20) were used as the reinforcements. Results indicate that the use of the combination of geocell and the geogrid reinforcement system considerably reduces the deformation of the pipe as compared to an unreinforced bed. Above 50% reduction in the pressure and more than 40% reduction in the strain values were observed in the reinforced bed as compared to the unreinforced bed at different depths. Conversely, the performance of the foundation bed was also found to be marginally influenced by the position of the pipe, even in the presence of the relatively stiff reinforcement system.
Article
Ground vibrations generated by construction activities can adversely affect the structural health of adjacent buildings and foundations supporting them. Therefore propagation and rate of attenuation of construction induced ground vibrations is important during construction activities, particularly in urban areas where constructions are carried out in the vicinity of existing structures. In practice wave barriers are installed in the ground to mitigate the ground vibration propagation and hence to minimise the effect of ground vibrations on surrounding structures. Different types of fill materials such as bentonite, EPS geofoam and concrete are used in constructing wave barriers. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element model is developed to study the efficiency of different fill materials in attenuating ground vibrations. The model is first verified using data from full scale field experiments, where EPS geofoam has been used as a fill material in wave barriers. Then the same model has been used to evaluate the efficiency of open trenches, water filled wave barriers and EPS geofoam filled wave barriers on attenuation of ground vibrations. EPS geofoam is found to be the most efficient fill material, providing attenuation efficiency closer to open trenches. The efficiency of EPS geofoam and water filled wave barriers can be significantly increased by increasing the depth of the wave barrier.
Article
This paper presents the case history of the construction of a 3 m high embankment on the geocell foundation over the soft settled red mud. Red mud is a waste product from the Bayer process of Aluminum industry. Geotechnical problems of the site, the design of the geocell foundation based on experimental investigation and the construction sequences of the geocell foundations in the field are discussed in the paper. Based on the experimental studies, an analytical model was also developed to estimate the load carrying capacity of the soft clay bed reinforced with geocell and combination of geocell and geogrid. The results of the experimental and analytical studies revealed that the use of combination of geocell and the geogrid is always beneficial than using the geocell alone. Hence, the combination of geocell and geogrid was recommended to stabilize the embankment base. The reported embankment is located in Lanjigharh (Orissa) in India. Construction of the embankment on the geocell foundation has already been completed. The constructed embankmenthas already sustained two monsoon rains without any cracks and seepage.
Article
The main objective in the design of a machine foundation is to restrict the maximum amplitude of the foundation motion to within the safety limits. When the underlying soil is poor, pile foundations are generally used to reduce the amplitude of foundation motion in machine foundations. Analysis results pertaining to a field example in which the foundation response of a foundation for a generator was improved using a reinforced soil technique are presented herein. The numerical simulations with regard to the response of the foundation on the reinforced soil confirm the efficacy of the method adopted. The results show that reinforced soil foundations are viable alternatives to improve foundation response due to dynamic loading.