Design of reinforced embankments on soft clay deposits considering the viscosity of both foundation and reinforcement

Abstract The combined effects of the viscoplastic nature of foundation soil and viscoelastic behaviour of geosynthetic reinforcement (polyester, polypropylene and polyethylene) are investigated. A new method for defining the critical stage, with respect to embankment stability, and the operational field strain rate for use in assessing the undrained shear strength of rate-sensitive foundation soils similar to those examined is proposed. The effect of construction rate on the reinforcement stiffness at the critical stage is examined. The study shows that the selection of a design stiffness using the data obtained from a creep test provided reasonable and conservative results. The effects of the undrained shear strength profile, reinforcement stiffness and soil viscosity on embankment performance under working stress conditions are explored and a new limit equilibrium based design procedure is proposed. Finite Element analyses are used to examine the potential effectiveness of the proposed simplified design procedure.

[1]  John T. Germaine,et al.  Triaxial testing of saturated cohesive soils , 1988 .

[2]  R. K. Rowe,et al.  Influence of Creep and Stress-Relaxation of Geosynthetic Reinforcement on Embankment Behaviour , 2001 .

[3]  Kousik Deb,et al.  Finite element analysis of geotextile-reinforced sand-bed subjected to strip loading , 2008 .

[4]  Chia-Cheng Fan,et al.  The mechanical behaviour and design concerns for a hybrid reinforced earth embankment built in limited width adjacent to a slope , 2011 .

[5]  Richard J. Bathurst,et al.  In-Isolation Cyclic Load-Extension Behavior of Two Geogrids , 1994 .

[6]  C. Taechakumthorn,et al.  Combined effect of PVDs and reinforcement on embankments over rate-sensitive soils , 2008 .

[7]  G. P. Karunaratne.  Prefabricated and electrical vertical drains for consolidation of soft clay , 2011 .

[8]  H. Saunders.  Book Reviews : The Finite Element Method (Revised): O.C. Zienkiewicz McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, New York , 1980 .

[9]  R. Kerry Rowe,et al.  The significance of rate effects in modelling the Sackville test embankment , 1998 .

[10]  B. Indraratna,et al.  Field Assessment of the Performance of a Ballasted Rail Track with and without Geosynthetics , 2010 .

[11]  Fumio Tatsuoka,et al.  A theoretical framework to analyse the behaviour of polymer geosynthetic reinforcement in temperature-accelerated creep tests , 2007 .

[12]  R. A. Jewell,et al.  Long term strength and safety in steep soil slopes reinforced by polymer materials , 1988 .

[13]  Colin J F P Jones,et al.  The residual strength of geosynthetic reinforcement subjected to accelerated creep testing and simulated seismic events , 2007 .

[14]  D. T. Bergado,et al.  Innovations and performances of PVD and dual function geosynthetic applications , 2004 .

[15]  Dennes T. Bergado,et al.  2D and 3D numerical simulations of reinforced embankments on soft ground , 2008 .

[16]  Buddhima Indraratna,et al.  Soft ground improvement via vertical drains and vacuum assisted preloading , 2012 .

[17]  H. O. Magnani,et al.  Behaviour of two reinforced test embankments on soft clay , 2009 .

[18]  Allen Lunzhu Li,et al.  Effects of viscous behavior of geosynthetic reinforcement and foundation soils on the performance of reinforced embankments , 2008 .

[19]  Jun-jie Zheng,et al.  The performance of an embankment on soft ground reinforced with geosynthetics and pile walls , 2009 .

[20]  R. H. Plaut,et al.  Analysis of geosynthetic reinforcement in pile-supported embankments. Part I: 3D plate model , 2010 .

[21]  Jinchun Chai,et al.  Measured and predicted performance of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) with and without vacuum preloading , 2010 .

[22]  Fred H. Kulhawy,et al.  Manual on estimating soil properties for foundation design , 1990 .

[23]  Wai-Fah Chen,et al.  Nonlinear analysis in soil mechanics : theory and implementation , 1990 .

[24]  M. Biot.  General Theory of Three‐Dimensional Consolidation , 1941 .

[25]  K. L. Soderman,et al.  An approximate method for estimating the stability of geotextile-reinforced embankments , 1985 .

[26]  Dov Leshchinsky,et al.  Creep and Stress Relaxation of Geogrids , 1997 .

[27]  V G Havanagi,et al.  An approach to shorten the construction period of high embankment on soft soil improved with PVD , 2009 .

[28]  Sean D. Hinchberger,et al.  Modelling the rate-sensitive characteristics of the Gloucester foundation soil , 1998 .

[29]  Chen Yun-min,et al.  An experimental investigation of soil arching within basal reinforced and unreinforced piled embankments , 2008 .

[30]  R. Kerry Rowe,et al.  Performance of Reinforced Embankments on Rate-Sensitive Soils under Working Conditions Considering Effect of Reinforcement Viscosity , 2012 .

[31]  Y. Hsuan,et al.  Evaluation of creep behavior of high density polyethylene and polyethylene-terephthalate geogrids , 2010 .

[32]  Mahmoud Ghazavi,et al.  Interference effect of shallow foundations constructed on sand reinforced with geosynthetics , 2008 .

[33]  V. Choa,et al.  Improvement of ultra-soft soil using prefabricated vertical drains , 2006 .

[34]  J. Graham,et al.  Time effects on the stress-strain behaviour of natural soft clays , 1983 .

[35]  Arun J. Valsangkar,et al.  Calculated and observed behaviour of a reinforced embankment over soft compressible soil , 1996 .

[36]  Mike Jefferies,et al.  Yield Behaviour and Consolidation. I: Pore Pressure Response , 1984 .

[37]  Ian D. Moore,et al.  Nonlinear mechanical response of high density polyethylene. Part II: Uniaxial constitutive modeling , 1997 .

[38]  Minna Karstunen,et al.  Modelling time-dependent behaviour of Murro test embankment , 2010 .

[39]  J. Z. Zhu,et al.  The finite element method , 1977 .

[40]  Jun-jie Zheng,et al.  A simplified method for analysis of a piled embankment reinforced with geosynthetics , 2009 .

[41]  S. Chandrakaran,et al.  Laboratory performance of unpaved roads reinforced with woven coir geotextiles , 2009 .

[42]  Richard J. Bathurst,et al.  Lateral and axial deformation of PP, HDPE and PET geogrids under tensile load , 2004 .

[43]  Jie Han,et al.  3D coupled mechanical and hydraulic modeling of a geosynthetic-reinforced deep mixed column-supported embankment , 2009 .

[44]  R. K. Rowe,et al.  Behaviour of reinforced embankments on soft rate-sensitive soils , 2002 .

[45]  Arun J. Valsangkar,et al.  Construction and performance of a full-scale geotextile reinforced test embankment, Sackville, New Brunswick , 1995 .

[46]  Liping Wang,et al.  Centrifuge model tests of geotextile-reinforced soil embankments during an earthquake , 2011 .

[47]  I. Lee,et al.  Soil mechanics: Selected topics; , 1968 .

[48]  Buddhima Indraratna,et al.  Behavior of geogrid-reinforced ballast under various levels of fouling , 2011 .