Details:

Creators:
Hatami, Kianoosh ; Miller, Gerald A. ; Esmaili, Danial
Hatami, Kianoosh ; Miller, Gerald A. ; Esmaili, Danial Less -
Corporate Creators:
University of Oklahoma. School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Corporate Contributors:
United States. Federal Highway Administration
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Embankments Geotextiles Prototypes Service Life Shear Strength Slope Stability Soil Structure Soil Suction
Publication/ Report Number:
FHWA-OK-15-03
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
Oklahoma
Corporate Publisher:
Oklahoma. Dept. of Transportation. Materials and Research Division
Abstract:
One of the main concerns in internal stability of reinforced soil structures constructed with fine-grained or

marginal quality soils is the change in shear strength of the soil-reinforcement interface when the soil gravimetric water

content (GWC) increases. This increase can occur during construction or service life of the structure, e.g. due to prolonged

precipitation. The resulting loss in the soil matric suction could reduce the interface shear strength leading to

serviceability problems or even failure of the reinforced soil structure. In this study, three (3) 1 m-high and two (2) 1.7 m-high model embankments were constructed, which were all subjected to strip footing loading in plane-strain condition. The

model embankments were constructed using a mixture of lean clay (CL), sand and a small percentage of commercially

available sodium bentonite at the GWC values ranging between OMC-2% and OMC+2% (OMC: Optimum Moisture Content).

The purpose for building smaller embankment models was to study the behavior of a single soil-geotextile interface in an

embankment configuration. Therefore, the smaller models included only a single reinforcement layer which was placed 180

mm below the embankment surface. In contrast, the larger models were intended to simulate field reinforced

embankments. Hence, those models were reinforced with four (4) layers of reinforcement with a uniform vertical spacing of

300 mm. The location of single reinforcement layer in smaller models was selected based on preliminary embankment tests

and numerical simulations to ensure that it would intercept the failure surface that developed underneath the strip footing

near the embankment slope. The embankments were instrumented to measure the footing load, earth pressure,

reinforcement strains and the soil GWC and matric suction values during the tests. A primary objective of the embankment

tests was to investigate the influence of the as-compacted GWC value of the soil on the performance of the model

embankments and thereby, validate or make necessary adjustments in the values of the moisture reduction factors (MRF)

for reinforced embankment design that the authors had developed based on their prior pullout and interface shear tests.


Format:
PDF
Funding:
ODOT SP&R Item Number 2160
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:6cceeb0650224d71ee4c3003446b577cb0a5d671a80833f62fb0614ec1bcda3a
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29306/dot_29306_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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