INCREASING THE STABILITY OF THE SAND CUSHION BY PRESTRESSING THE REINFORCING LAYERS OF GEOSYNTHETICS

The use of prestressing of geosynthetics allows accelerate their inclusion in work, reduce deformations and gaining bearing capacity of artificial foundation. The article presents results of research of two methods of construction reinforced sand cushions. In the first case, the effect of prestressing is achieved due to a certain order of layer-by-layer soil compaction of the cushion, in the second - by laying of the swellable material between the contours of the foundations. The experiments were carried out in a laboratory tank with a pneumatic loading device. There are three stamps united by a common frame on the surface of the cushion. To assess the stress-strain state of the soil foundation, the non-contact digital tracer imaging method was used. The experimental results are presented in the graphs form of the dependence of the stamp settlement on pressure and vector fields of particle movements. Modeling has confirmed the high efficiency of prestressing. The ultimate pressure on the soil foundation with two-layer horizontal reinforcement and prestressing of the reinforcing layers in the first method was 195 kPa, in the second method - 165 kPa, whereas in the absence of prestressing this value was 110 kPa. Foundation deformations also decreased significantly.

Settlement Behavior of Soft Subgrade Reinforced by Geogrid-Encased Stone Column and Geocell-Embedded Sand Cushion: A Numerical Analysis

The geosynthetic-encased vertical column and geosynthetic-embedded horizontal cushion are recognized as the effective methods to reduce the settlement of the soft subgrade. This paper investigated the settlement behavior of a soft subgrade reinforced by geogrid-encased stone column and geocell-embedded sand cushion using the finite element analysis method (Plaxis 2D). The simulating settlement was in good agreement with the field monitoring data, indicating the reasonability of the designed model and adopted parameters. After that, the factors, geocell layer in sand cushion, encasement length around stone column, and standing time between embankment filling stages, were employed to study their influences on the subgrade settlement. The results showed that the embedment of geocell reduced construction settlement, postconstruction settlement, and differential settlement is attributed to the increase in stiffness of sand cushion and therefore the uniform distribution of additional stress on subgrade surface. When the encasement length of stone column increased from 1D (one time the column diameter) to 8D (full encasement), the settlement in construction stage and postconstruction stage decreased by 32.2% and 35.1%, respectively, which is benefited from the increase in the compression modulus of the column. The maximum lateral deformation occurred at the position of about 2D from the top of the stone column, and it decreased more significantly when the encasement length increased from 1D to 4D than that from 4D to 8D. The encasement length up to 4D is found to be adequate in reducing the subgrade settlement and the column lateral deformation based on the consideration of performance and economy. The extension of the filling interval increased the construction settlement caused by soil consolidation, while it decreased the postconstruction settlement.

Experimental Study on the Influence of Aging on Mechanical Properties of Geogrids and Bearing Capacity of Reinforced Sand Cushion

Geogrids are widely used in foundation engineering for reinforcing foundations due to their light weight, high strength, and excellent performance. In this study, two kinds of polypropylene biaxial geogrids were used, and indoor thermal oxygen and photooxygen aging tests were carried out. The residual mechanical stability of the exposed materials was determined by tensile testing. The results of both accelerated test methods are discussed and compared in detail. After aging of the geogrid, the trend of tensile strength and fracture elongation change with aging time is obtained. The gray prediction model was used to predict the variation in the retention rate of tensile strength in the geogrid with photooxygen aging time. Model tests of cushions were carried out in a large geogroove to compare the load bearing characteristics of pure sand and the unaged and aged geogrid-reinforced sand cushions. The results show that ultraviolet radiation illuminance plays a decisive role in the aging degree of the polypropylene geogrid. The influence of photooxygen aging on the tensile strength and fracture elongation of a polypropylene biaxial geogrid is greater than that of thermal oxygen aging. Different types of polypropylene biaxial geogrids with photooxygen aging showed different retention rates of tensile strength, and the aging resistance of the geogrid with higher tensile strength was significantly higher than that of the geogrid with lower tensile strength. The tensile strength of the geogrid has an effect on the bearing capacity of reinforced sand cushions. Under proper elongation, the bearing capacity of the reinforced sand cushion is clearly improved compared with that of the unreinforced cushion. The aging behavior of the two geogrids reduces the load bearing capacity of the reinforced cushion by influencing the property of the interface between the geogrid and sand.