Effect of Random Inclusion of Palm Fibers on Strength Characteristics of Shanghai Cohesive Soil

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the effect of random inclusion of palm fibers on strength characteristics of Shanghai cohesive soil. Locally available cohesive soil (CL) is used as medium and palm fibers with three lengths (l = 6, 12 and 18 mm) are used as reinforcement. Soil is compacted with standard Proctor’s maximum density with low percentage of reinforcement (0–1% by weight of oven-dried soil). Direct shear tests, unconfined compression tests and CBR tests were conducted on un-reinforced as well as reinforced soil to investigate the strength characteristics of fiber-reinforced soil. The test results reveal that the inclusion of randomly distributed palm fibers in soil increases peak and residual shear strength, unconfined compressive strength and CBR value of soil. It is noticed that the optimum fiber content for achieving maximum strength is 0.6–0.8% of the weight of oven-dried soil for fiber length 12 mm.