Triaxial Shear Behavior of a Gravelly Sand with Different Forms of Reinforcement

Abstract

To study the effect of three-dimensional reinforcement arrangement on the behavior of a gravelly sand, triaxial tests were performed on specimens reinforced with geogrid sheet, geogrid cell, and one and two layers of geogrid sheet and geocell combination. Specimens with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 200 mm are sheared under drained condition to monitor the variation of axial and volumetric strains with axial loading under different confining pressures. The results showed that the reinforcement schemes have different effects on soil strength improvement. The inclusion of double layers of geogrid sheet and geocell reinforcement could increase both the apparent cohesion and friction of the reinforced soil. The stress-strain relationship could be modelled with a modified hyperbolic model, which can capture the softening strain behavior of the specimens after peak strength.