Abstract

Reinforcement of loose soils with geosynthetics in order to achieve a strengthened soil-reinforcement system, with enhanced tensile strength and reduced settlement is an important subject in the field of geotechnical engineering. In this study, a soil reinforcement system was used to increase the bearing capacity of sandy soil beneath a strip foundation. A small-scale laboratory model was built to investigate the behavior of geosynthetic reinforced sandy soil. The displacement vectors of the soil and bearing capacity of the strip foundation, in reinforced and non-reinforced states were measured to investigate the impact of several parameters, including the type of reinforcement, number of the reinforcement layers, depth of first layer of the reinforcement, and width of the reinforcement. Compared to non-reinforced and geotextile-reinforced models, the geogrid-reinforced model generally had large mass of reinforced soil with higher resistance to loading, which resulted in higher bearing capacity. Similar impacts were observed after increasing the number and width of reinforcement layers. Evaluation of the performance of reinforcements and sandy soil in the physical model with the PIV method and in the numerical simulation showed an increase in the volume of fault wedge and consequently an increase in the bearing capacity of the strip foundation.

Key words: Strip foundation, reinforced sandy soil, laboratory model (PIV).