Compressive strength of fiber reinforced highly compressible clay

Abstract Admixtures and geogrids are frequently used in practice to stabilize soils and to improve their load carrying capacity. In this study, polyester fibers were mixed with soft clay soil to investigate the relative strength gain in terms of unconfined compression. Samples were tested in unconfined compression with 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% plain and crimped polyester fibers. Verifications tests were also performed to investigate the repeatability of the test results. The results presented show that the degree of compaction affected the relative benefits of fiber reinforcement for the subject soil. Samples compacted after mixing various proportions of sand into clay (varying from 0% to 12% of clay) were also tested. It was observed that unconfined compressive strength of clay increases with the addition of fibers and it further increases when fibers are mixed in clay sand mixture. Verification tests performed revealed that even though the fibers were randomly oriented, tests results can be reproduced with reasonable accuracy.