Response of sensor-enabled piezoelectric geobelt reinforced soil pullout friction signals

Abstract

Geosynthetics are widely used in soil reinforcement engineering, the failure modes of which are typically pullout modes. However, current research on monitoring the pullout damage experienced by reinforced soil is limited. Accordingly, in this study, the stress variation laws and signal output characteristics of a sensor-enabled piezoelectric geobelt (SPGB) that can capture the tensile vibration signals of reinforced soil under various tensile failure conditions were examined. It was found that the SPGB captured the response signals under different soil environments, confining pressures, and shear rates. During the pullout friction process, a spike was generated, and the displacement corresponding to the position of the spike increased with an increase of the pullout friction rate. In the clay environment, the spike voltage was related to the confining pressure, while in the sand environment, there was no obvious relationship between the spike voltage and the confining pressure. In the gravel environment, the output voltage of the SPGB fluctuated greatly, due to the embedment of gravel particles, and many negative voltages of large amplitude appeared. The results of this study verify the promising application potential of SPGBs for the integration of soil reinforcement and monitoring, which is significant for further applications of SPGBs in engineering.