Physical Modeling of the Effect of Using Scaled Geosynthetic Reinforcements on Bearing Capacity and Settlement of Strip Footing

Abstract

This study evaluated the strip foundation bearing capacity and settlement on sandy soil reinforced with scaled geocomposite and geotextile by laboratory model testing. Therefore, several reinforcement compounds were used in different layers (one to four), including identical and various vertical distances from each other and the footing base. The geocomposite used in this study consisted of geogrid and geotextile layers. The most crucial consideration in this research was the application of scaled reinforcement with a factor of 7.5 to create more precise laboratory models. Based on the results, all models failed in the lower settlement, which in most cases was 7% of the width of the footing. Test results indicated that the maximum increasing factor in bearing pressure of foundation in the case of ultimate bearing was 3.4, which could be related to using four layers of geocomposite at optimal distances. The percentage of decreasing footing settlement at the maximum value was about 86% in the two-layer geocomposite state. Its value remained constant with increasing number of layers. Percentage variation in bearing capacity value indicated that geotextile had a better performance in increasing the bearing capacity at the high settlement level. It was close to the values of the geocomposite.