2n International Conference on New Developments in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 28-30 May 2009, Near East University,

Nicosia, North Cyprus

Characterization of shallow foundations on loose sand reinforced with geotextile

S.Sh.Yasrobi
Department of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran; yasrobis@modares.ac.ir

S.M. Rahmaninezhad
Department of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran; rahmaninezhad@modares.ac.ir

S.F. Eftakharzadeh
Transportation Research Institute, Iran; eftekharzadeh@rahiran.ir

KEYWORDS: Geotextile, reinforced sand, shallow foundation, bearing capacity ABSTRACT: In this paper , the results of plate load tests on geotextile reinforced loose sand were presented whereas the behavior of loose sand foundation versus the number of reinforcement layers , their depth and dimensions was compared. The model circular plate had a diameter of 200 mm. Plate Load tests were conducted in a box with 10010080 cm dimensions. It was filled with special sand patterned in Iran (Standard sand 161) and a non woven type of geotextile was used. 1 INTRODUCTION Soil reinforcements such as Geosynthetics (geotextiles, geogrids and geocomposits) have beneficial effects on the bearing capacity and settlement of shallow foundations (Koerner, 1997 and Shukla and Yin, 2006). Several researches have shown the effects of geosynthetic soil reinforcements on ultimate bearing capacity (e.g. Giudo et. al. 1985, Omar et. al. 1993 and Boushehrian and Hataf, 2003, Yasrobi et. al. 2009). Most of the laboratory model tests available have been conducted with square and strip foundations. This study presents the results of laboratory model tests on the circular foundation supported by loose sand reinforced with geotextile layers in order to reduce the stress concentrations occurring in the corners of square and strip foundations. Bearing capacity tests were conducted in a box with 100cm100cm80cm (length width depth) dimensions. This box was made of wood supported by steal profiles. The inner side of the box was covered by plastics to reduce friction. The circular foundation had a diameter of 200mm. It was made of iron plate. 2 MATERIALS AND TESTING PROGRAM Special silica sand (patterned in Iran), was used in this study named 161standard sand. The grain size distribution curve of the sand is shown in Figure 1 and Its specifications are given in Table 1. An Iranian nonwoven geotextile was used for the present tests (2N400). The physical properties of the geotextile are given in Table 2.

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2n International Conference on New Developments in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 28-30 May 2009, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus

Figure 1. Grain size distribution curve for standard sand 161 Table 1. Specifications of Standard Sand161 Specifications of Standard Sand161 Parameter Value GS e max e min D 50 F% Cu Cc 2.66 0.928 0.583 0.26 0 1.8 1.19

Fabric Properties Polymer Type Unit Weight Thickness Grab tensile strength Grab elongation Trapezoidal tear Puncture strength Wide with tensile

Table 2. Physical properties of the geotextile Physical properties of the geotextile Test Method Unit (ASTM) D-5261 D-5199 D-4632 D-4632 D-4833 D-4533 D-4595 gr/m mm N % N N kN/m PET 400 1.60 1750 >50 595 930 23.1

In this study a group test was planned. In this group, four test series were performed to investigate the optimum number of reinforcement layers, the optimum dimensions of the geotextile layers and also the critical depth of the first layer of reinforcement. Details of these group tests conducted are given in follow:

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Characterization of shallow foundations on loose sand reinforced with geotextile Yasrobi, S.S., Rahmaninezhad, S.M.& Eftekharzadeh, S.F.

Test on the unreinforced sand, Dr = 35% Variable parameter: N (i.e., d/B) and constant parameter: u/B = h/B = 0.5; b/B = 4; Dr = 35% Variable parameter: b/B and constant parameter: u/B = h/B = 0.5; d/B = 1 (i.e., N = 2); Dr = 35% Variable parameter: u/B and constant parameter: N = 1; b/B = 3; Dr = 35%

3 LABORATORY MODELS

The model footing was placed on the surface of the sand bed. The circular footing (diameter B) supported by sandy foundation was shown in figure 2, which is reinforced with N numbers of geotextile layers. In this figure the vertical space between the geotextile layers and the depth of top layer of geotextile from the bottom of the footing are shown with h and u, respectively. The width and the length of the geotextile layers are b. The depth d of reinforcement below the bottom footing is calculated as: d = u + (N - 1) h (1)

Figure 2. The circular foundation supported by sand reinforced with geotextile layers in the square box.

The unit weight (d) and the Relative Density of Compaction (Dr) in the all tests were constant as 14.4kN/m and 35%, respectively. The range of variation for the Dr of the average value was 5%. The box was filled with 138.7 kg dry sand, which is then compacted per 10cm thickness. The geotextile layers were placed at the desired values of u/B and h/B in the sand. The foundation was placed on the surface of the sand bed. Loading was applied by a hydraulic jack. The loads and the corresponding settlement (s) were measured by a proving ring and three digital gauges. The bearing capacity of shallow footing on dry sand is called q for foundations without reinforcement and is called q(R) for foundations with reinforcement layers. When the sand is reinforced with geotextile layers, q(R) will increase. The increase in the bearing capacity can be expressed in a non-dimensional form as the Bearing Capacity Ratio (BCR): BCR = q(R) / q 4 MODEL TESTS RESULTS The first test was performed on the sandy foundation without geotextile reinforcement. The load (q) per unit area versus settlement (s) plot was obtained from the Plate Load Tests (PLT). The (2)

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2n International Conference on New Developments in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 28-30 May 2009, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus

ultimate bearing capacity was determined to be 8.4kN/m at the 25.1mm (allowable settlement of ASTM-D1194). In the second test series, variable parameter was the number of geotextile layers (N) and the constant parameters were: u/B=h/B=0.5 and b/B=4. Figure 3 shows the plot of experimental q versus s plot obtained from the tests with the circular foundation. It is inferred from this plot that, for these foundations, the magnitude of q increases with an increase in N at the allowable settlement. The load at the allowable settlement almost increased when N increased to 3. For N3, the allowable load remained constant. Figure 4 shows the plot of the variation of BCR with d/B. For the given foundation, the magnitude of BCR increases with d/B up to maximum value and thereafter remains constant. The critical value of d/B is about 1.5-2 for circular foundations. Guido et. al. (1985) determined the critical value of d/B for square foundations as 1-1.25 while Omar et. al. (1993) determined it as 1.42.

Figure 3. The effect of number of layers on the bearing capacity and settlement (u/B=h/B=0.5, b/B=4)

Figure. 4. The effect of depth of layers (d/B) on BCR (u/B=h/B=0.5, b/B=4)

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Characterization of shallow foundations on loose sand reinforced with geotextile Yasrobi, S.S., Rahmaninezhad, S.M.& Eftekharzadeh, S.F.

The third test series were conducted to determine the optimum dimensions of the geotextile layers. The depth of the reinforcement was kept at about the same level as d/B=1 determined from the second test series. The BCR obtained from these tests are plotted against b/B in Figure 5.

Figure. 5. The effect of dimensions of geotextile layers (b/B) on BCR (u/B=h/B=0.5, d/B=1)

In this figure, the BCR attained maximums at about b/B = 3 for circular foundations. The magnitude of the critical d/B for square foundations was determined by Guido et. al. (1985) as 2.53 and by Omar and Dos (1993) as 4.5. To obtain the maximum benefit of u/B ratio, the fourth test series were conducted. The results obtained from these tests are plotted in Figure 6. In larger u/B ratios, the failure surface in sand at ultimate load will be fully located above the top layer of reinforcement. In these tests, N=1 was constant. It appears from the plot (fig. 6) that the maximum BCR for circular foundation occurs at around u/B = 0.25.

Figure 6. The effect of depth of the first layer (u/B) on BCR

As Binquet and Lee (1975) observed in order to obtain maximum benefit from the reinforcement for square foundations, it is desirable that u/B be less than 0.67 while Guido et. al. (1985) and Omar

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2n International Conference on New Developments in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 28-30 May 2009, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus

et. al. (1993) determined u/B as approximately 0.75 about 1 for square and strip foundations, respectively. 5 CONCLUSIONS Large physical modeling results of circular foundations to optimize the geometrical conditions of geotextile in reinforced loose sand include: 1. The effective depth of geotextile reinforcement is about B. 2. The maximum width of reinforcement required for mobilization of maximum bearing capacity is about 3B. 3. The maximum depth of placement of the first layer of geotextile is about 0.25B. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors here by appreciate the Transportation Research Institute (affiliated to the Ministry of Road and Transportation) of Iran and Tarbiat Modares in Iran for their support of this research. REFERENCES
Koerner, R.M. (1997). Designing with Geosynthetics, Prentice Hall. Shukla, S.K. and Yin, J.H. (2006). Fundamentals of Geosynthetic Engineering, Taylor & Francis. Boushehrian, J.V. and Hataf, N. (2003). Experimental and numerical investigation of the bearing capacity of model circular and ring footings on reinforced sand, Geotextiles and Geomembranes 21:241-256. Guido, V.A., Biesiadecki, G.L. and Sullivan, M.L. (1985). Bearing capacity of a geotextile reinforced foundation, The 1th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, San Francisco, Vol. 3: pp. 1777-1780. Binquet, J. and Lee, K.L. (1975). Bearing capacity analysis on reinforced earth slabs, ASCE Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, 101: 1257-1276. Omar, M.T., Das, B.M., Puri, V.K. and Yen, S.C. (1993). Ultimate bearing capacity of shallow foundations on sand with geogrid reinforcement, Can. Geotech. J. 30: 545-549.

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