Performance of Polypropylene Fiber-Reinforced Solidified Soil

Urgent repair and construction of airstrips is a research hotspot in global airport engineering. Selecting the proper structural materials is a key component of the airstrip repair process. First, with unconfined compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, the fiber length and content of polypropylene (PP) fiber-reinforced solidified soil were optimized. Then, using a scanning electron microscope, the reinforcing mechanism of PP fiber on soil and the influence mechanism of fiber parameters on fiber-reinforced soil were discussed and analyzed. Lastly, a full-scale test section was paved, on which static and dynamic loading tests were performed to verify the carrying capacity and deformation characteristics of the full-scale test section. The above research provides a theoretical foundation and data support for the urgent repair and construction of airstrip. Results indicate that PP fiber with length of 12 mm and fiber content of 0.3% has optimal performance and economic cost. The reinforcing mechanism of fiber-reinforced soil can be summarized to be the effect of a one-dimensional lacing wire and the effect of a three-dimensional network structure. Fibers show two failure modes of pull-out and tensile failure. After 20000 dynamic loading cycles, the stress at the bottom of each structural section varies less, the graded plastic deformation is stable, and the cumulative plastic deformations of the fiber-reinforced soil base, solidified soil base, and cemented soil base pavement structures are 0.83 mm, 0.93 mm, and 1.2 mm, respectively. Pavement structure composed of fiber-reinforced solidified soil can meet the load capacity requirements for use in airstrips under the characteristics of time-sensitive application.

Direct Shear Creep Characteristics and Microstructure of Fiber-Reinforced Soil

Fiber-reinforced soil is an excellent engineering material that has become a focus of research. Most studies focus on the conventional mechanical properties of reinforced soil, such as its tensile, compressive, and shear strength, and rarely study its creep-related mechanical properties. However, when such soil is used as backfill, the creep effect should not be ignored. This study explored the characteristics of creep mechanics in reinforced soil, the fiber-reinforcement mechanism, and the dynamics of microstructures before and after creep tests. Direct shear creep tests were carried out using a direct shear creep tester on soil reinforced with natural palm fibers of equal length (1.5 cm) in different amounts (0%, 0.2%, 0.6%, 1.0%). Microscale tests were carried out on the reinforced soil samples before and after the creep tests by polarized light and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the fiber reinforcement can restrain the deformation and enhance the long-term strength of soil. However, a nonlinear relationship between the reinforcement effect and fiber content was found, with 0.6% being the optimal content. Palm fibers have rough surfaces, grooves, and independent pore chambers, which increase the effective contact area and interaction with the soil. With increases in fiber content, the fibers interweave to form a nestled network structure, which increases the strength and integrity of the soil. Fiber addition changes the microstructure of the soil pores; the proportion of large pores decreases and that of small pores increases. Under the effect of creep, the pore changes follow the principle of pore homogenization; large pores are destroyed and transformed into small pores, causing the porosity of reinforced soil to decrease faster and be less porous than unreinforced soil. This research can provide technical reference for the engineering application of palm fiber-reinforced soil.

Mechanical Properties of Fiber-Reinforced Soil under Triaxial Compression and Parameter Determination Based on the Duncan-Chang Model

To study the mechanical properties of Y-shaped polypropylene fiber-reinforced subgrade fill, the strength characteristics of fiber-reinforced soil with different fiber contents, fiber lengths, and confining pressures were investigated through triaxial compression tests. The test results showed that fiber reinforcement significantly improved the strength and cohesion of the subgrade fill but had a limited impact on the internal friction angle. The fiber-reinforced soil specimens exhibited a failure pattern of bulging deformation, showing plastic failure characteristics. As the fiber content and length increased, the strength of the fiber-reinforced soil increased and then decreased. The optimal fiber content was 0.2%, and the optimal fiber length was between 12 and 18 mm in all test conditions. The strength of the fiber-reinforced soil increased with increasing confining pressure. An empirical model for predicting the failure strength of fiber-reinforced soil was established by analyzing the relationships between the failure strength of the fiber-reinforced soil and the fiber content, fiber length, and confining pressure. The stress-strain relationship of the fiber-reinforced soil exhibited strain-hardening characteristics and could be approximated by a hyperbolic curve. The Duncan-Chang model could be used to describe the stress-strain relationship of this fiber-reinforced soil. A calculation method to determine the model parameters (initial tangent modulus and ultimate deviator stress) was proposed.