Abstract
The purpose of the paper was to determine two things: the influence of type and amount of reinforcement on shear strength of soil and the relation between the efficiency of reinforcement and soil moisture content. Shear strength was determined in a direct shear apparatus in a box with a square section of 80x80 mm. The range of normal stress was from 25 to 150 kPa and the shear velocity was 1.0 mm×min<sup>-1</sup>. The tests were carried out on medium sand and clayey coarse silt at two moisture contents and with two types of reinforcement - polyolefine fibres and 40x3 mm foil stripes. The addition of reinforcement was 0.5 and 1.0% in relation to the dry mass of soil. Test results indicated that using polyolefine fibres as dispersed reinforcement in a sandy soil increased its shear strength. Whereas the influence of using foil stripes on shear strength was little. However, using both types of reinforcement in a cohesive soil increased its shear strength and this influence was particularly clear at higher moisture content.
Highlights
Soil shear strength is one of the main geotechnical characteristics that determine their usability in earthen structures
There are many types of materials that can be used as soil reinforcement, in case of a specific soil, the result of reinforcement depends on its type, length and amount, it can be connected with the soil moisture content
Calculation of the brittleness index of the medium sand showed that using reinforcement lowered its value from 0.23–0.34 to 0.21–0.27 and to 0.11–0.17
Summary
Soil shear strength is one of the main geotechnical characteristics that determine their usability in earthen structures. Reinforcement as opposed to soil can bear tensile stresses and it is often used in retaining constructions (Pollen and Simon 2005, Borys 2007, Gruchot 2013). Another method of increasing strength properties of soils is using the so-called dispersed reinforcement in the form of short, single fibres or their bundles, which can be considered as a substitute of natural reinforcement provided to soil by plant roots As Lovisa et al (2010) showed in their tests on the influence of reinforcement on soil strength parameters that last factor is usually omitted
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