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org ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 05, No. 05 (02) October 2012, P.P. 1438-1442

Improvement in CBR Value of Soil Reinforced with Jute Geotextile Layers

H. P. SINGH Department of Civil Engineering, NERIST, Itanagar 791109 Email: singh..harendra121@gmail.com
Abstract: Soil reinforcement technique is one of the most popular techniques used for improvement of poor soils. Metal strips, synthetic geotextiles, geogrid sheets, natural geotextiles, randomly distributed, synthetic and natural fibres are being used as reinforcing materials to soil. Further, the soil reinforcement causes significant improvement in tensile strength, shear strength, other properties, bearing capacity as well as economy. This is a relatively simple technique for ground improvement and has tremendous potential as accost effective solution to many geotechnical problems. Keeping this in view an experimental study was conducted with locally available (Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India) soil reinforcement with jute geotextile layers. The Jute Geotextile layers are arranged within the soil sample in different combination such as 1 layer, 2 layers, 3 layers, 4 layers etc. and laoratory CBR values were determined in both soaked and unsoaked conditions corresponding to each combination of reinforcing layer .Further, these test results were compared with that of unreinforced soil. It was observed that inclusion of Jute Geotextile layer increases the CBR value of soil and this increase is maximum corresponding to 4 layers of Jute Geotextile layers. Thus there is a significant increase in CBR value of soil due to inclusion of Jute Geotextile layers as a reinforcement. Keywords: Laboratory CBR value, Itanagar Soil, Jute Geotextile Layers. Introduction: Reinforce soil is a composite material which is formed by the association of frictional soil and tension resistant elements in the form of sheet, strips, nets or mats of metals, synthetic fabrics or fibre reinforced plastics and arranged in the soil mass in such a way to reduced or suppress the tensile strain which might develop under gravity and boundary forces. It is well known that most granular soils are strong in compression and shear but weak in tension. The performance of such soils can be substantially improved by introducing reinforcing elements in the direction of tensile strains in the same way as in reinforced concrete. Reinforcing elements in the form of rods, sheets, strips, membranes such as jute, coir, and bamboo as reinforcing materials in soil is prevalent for a long time and they are abundantly used in many countries like India, Philippines, etc. (Saran, 2010) .The main advantages of these materials are that they are locally available and are very cheap. They are biodegradable and hence do not create disposal problems in environment. Processing of these materials into a usable form is an employment generation activity in rural areas in these countries. If these materials are used effectively, the rural economy can get uplift and also the cost of construction can be reduced, if the material use leads to beneficial effects in engineering construction. Considering the above facts, many researchers have studied the influence of reinforcement in the form of sheets, strip, mats, synthetic fiber, natural fiber etc.on the strength parameters of soil. Many studies have been conducted relating to the behaviour of soil reinforced with randomly distributed fibers. Gray and Ohashi (1983) conducted a series of direct shear tests on dry sand reinforced with different synthetic, natural and metallic fibers to evaluate the effects of parameters such as fiber orientation, fiber content, fiber area ratios, and fiber stiffness on contribution to shear strength. Based on the test results they concluded that an increase in shear strength is directly proportional to the fiber area ratios and shear strength envelopes for fiberreinforced sand clearly showed the existence of a threshold confining stress below which the fiber tries to slip or pull out. Various types of randomly distributed elements such as polymeric mesh elements (Andrews et.al, 1986), synthetic fibers (Gray and Al Refeai 1986, Mahar and Gray 1990, Ranjan et. al, 1994, 1996, Charan 1995, Ranjan et. al, 1999, Consoli et al., 2002, Michalowski and Cermak, 2003, Gosavi et al., 2004, Yetimoglu and Inanir 2005, Rao et al., 2006, Chandra et al., 2008, Jadhao, and Nagarnaik, 2008, and Singh 2009) have been used to reinforce the soil. Sivakumar Babu and Vasudevan,, 2005,2008 found in their study that coir fiber is very effective in increasing the strength and stifnees of tropical soils.. Andrews et.al, 1986 used the polymeric mesh element and Lawton et.al, 1993

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used the discontinuous multioriented polypropylene elements to reinforce the soil and they have shown the addition of randomly distributed elements to soils contributes to the increase in strength and stiffness. More recently, the use of geogrid sheets for soil reinforcement and reinforcing the fly ash have been increased significantly. Kaushik and Ramaswami (2000) conducted some experimental studies on Dadri (Gaziabad, Delhi, India) fly ash reinforced with geogrid sheets and found that there is a significant improvement in the shear strength parameters of fly ash. Boddu (2002) and Shanker (2003) carried out studies on fly ash reinforced with two layers of geogrid sheets and found that strength characteristics of fly ash improves with the increase in layers of geogrid sheets. Singh (2011) and Singh and Yachang (2012) used the randomly distributed synthetic fiber and Jute Geotextile layers as a reinforcing materials to Itanagar fly ash and concluded that the strength parameters of fly ash increase significantly. In the present investigation the influence of Jutegeotextile layers on CBR value of a soil has been reported. In this study a number of CBR tests

(Unsoaked and soaked) have been conducted on soil alone and soil reinforced with different layers of Jutegeo-textile layers. The CBR values at 2.5 mm and 5 mm plunger penetration have been determined and compared with that of unreinforced soil specimen. Material: In this study locally available (Itanagar) soil and Jute geotextile sheets obtained from local market, were used. The properties of these materials are given in the following sections. Soil: The particle size distrution curve of soil are shown in Fig.1. The various physical and index properties of the soil were computed from the plot and are shown in Table 1. Jute Geotextile Sheet: The Jute Geotextile sheet taken from the Jute bag, were collected from the local market. The average thickness of the sheet was 3mm. The view of the Jute Geotextile sheet are shown in Fig.2

Figure 1: Grain Size distribution Curve of Soil Table 1: Index Properties of Soil S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Property Specific Gravity Liquid Limit Plastic Limit Plasticity Index Maximum Dry Density Optimum water Content Notations G LL PL PI d omc Value 2.69 20.30 % 10.18 % 10.12 1.80 kN/m3 15 %

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 05 (02), October 2012, pp. 1438-1442

Improvement in CBR Value of Soil Reinforced with Jute Geotextile Layers

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Figure 2: View of the Jute Geotextile Sheet Table 2: Unsoaked CBR Value of Soil Reinforced with JGT Sheets S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Number of JGT Sheet 0 1 2 3 4 5 CBR Value 2.23 2.65 7.30 9.50 15.30 13.30 Increase in CBR value 0.42 5.07 7.27 13.07 11.07 Percentage Increase in CBR value 19 227 326 586 496

Table 3: Soaked CBR Value of Soil Reinforced with JGT Sheets S.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tests and Results: CBR Tests: All the samples of soil and reinforced soil for CBR test were prepared at maximum dry density and optimum moisture content and unsoaked and soaked CBR tests were conducted using standard procedure as outlined in IS 2720 (Part XVI)-1965. The CBR value of all the specimens was evaluated corresponding to both 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm Plunger penetration. The observed unsoaked CBR values of reinforced soil are given in Table 2. Number of JGT Sheet 0 1 2 3 4 5 CBR Value 2.0 2.5 4.66 7.00 12.40 11.41 Increase in CBR value 0.5 2.66 5 10.4 9.41 Percentage Increase in CBR value 25 133 250 520 470

Effects of Jute Geotextile Sheets: It is observed from the results of Table 2 and Table 3 that there is a significant effect of Jute Geotextile sheet on CBR value of soil. In case of unsoaked test (Table 2) the CBR value of soil increases as the Jute Geotextile sheet is addede to the soil. As the number of JGT sheet increases, the CBR value further increases and this increase is maximum at 4 layers of Jute geotextile sheet. This is also observed from the Table 2, that when the number of Jute geotextile sheets are further increases from 4 layers to 5 layers, the CBR value of soil decreases This is due to the fact that preparation of identical sample in the CBR mould corresponding to 5

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 05 (02), October 2012, pp. 1438-1442

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layers of JGT sheet is not possible and the density of reinforced soil sample decreases which resulted into decrease in CBR value. Similar trends of results are observed for soaked tests also (Table 3). The addition of JGT sheet makes the soil composite materials whose strength and stiffness is greater than that of soil alone. This is why CBR value of soil increases with increase in number of layers of JGT sheet. It is further observed that the unsoaked CBR value is greater than that of soaked CBR value and improvement in CBR value of soil due to inclusion of JGT sheet are observed for both soaked and unsoaked conditions. Conclusions: CBR value of soil increases for both soaked and unsoaked conditions as the number of Jute geotextile layers is incorporated into the soil. As the number of JGT sheet increases the CBR value of soil increase.The improvement in CBR value is maximum corresponding to 4 number of JGT sheets. The preparation of identical soil sample corresponding to 5 layers of JGT sheets is not possible and CBR value of soil decreases due to decrease in density of soil sample. The maximum improvement in unsoaked CBR value of soil is observed to be 586 % corresponding to 4 layers of JGT sheets. In case soaked test the improvement in CBR value is 520 % for the same number i.e. 4 layers of JGT sheet. Thus there is significant improvement in the CBR value of soil reinforced with Jute Geotextile sheets. Acknowledgement: Author is thankful to the Head of Department of Civil Engineering NERIST, Itanagar, India for providing laboratory facilities and assistance for conducting the tests. The help and support extended by Mr.D.S.Deingdoh, Mr.M.Z.Tsanglao and Miss R. D. Barma B. Tech. student and Sri Rameshwer Bora Laboratory Assistant in carrying out the experiments is gratefully acknowledged. References: [1] Andrews, K. Z., McGown, A., Hytiris, N., Mercer, F. B and Swetland, D. B, 1986. The use of mesh elements to alter the stress strain behavior of granular Soils, Proc. of the third International Conference on Geotextiles; Vienna, 839-844. [2] Chandra, S., Viladkar, M.N and Nagrale, P.P, 2008. Mechanistic approach for fiber-reinforced flexible pavements, Journal of Transportation Engineering; 134 (1), 15-23. [3] Charan, H.D, 1995. Probabilistic analysis of randomly distributed fiber-reinforced soil, Ph. D. Thesis; Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, India. [4] Consoli, N.C., Montardo, J.P., Prietto, P.D.M and Pasa, G.S, 2002. Engineering behavior of sand

reinforced with plastic waste, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engg., ASCE; 128 (6), 462-472. [5] Fatani, N. M., Bauer, G. H and Al-Joulani, N, 1999. Reinforcing soil with aligned and randomly oriented metallic fibers, Journal of ASTM Geotech Testing; 14(1), 78-87. [6] Gray, D. H and Al Refeai, T, 1986. Behavior of fabric versus fiber reinforced sand, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical Engineering; 112, 804-820. [7] Gosavi, M., Patil, K.M., Mittal, S and Saran, S, 2004. Improvement of properties of black cotton soil subgrade through synthetic reinforcement, Journal of Institution of Engineers (India); 84, 257262. [8] Lawton, E. C., Khire, M. V and Fox, N. S, 1993. Reinforcement of soils by multioriented geosynthetic inclusion, ASCE J. of Geotech. Eng. Div.; 119(2), 257-275. [9] Lekha, K. R, 2004. Field instrumentation and monitoring of soil erosion in coir geotextiles stabilized slopes-A case study, Journal of geotextiles and geomembranes; 22(5), 399-413. [10] Maher, M. H and Gray, D. H, 1990. Static response of sands reinforced with randomly distributed fibres, ASCE J. of Geotech. Eng. Div.; 116(11), 1661-1677. [11] Michalowski, R.L and Cermak, J, 2003. Triaxial compression of sand reinforced with fibers, Journal of geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engg. ASCE; 129 (2), 125-136. [12] Ranjan, G., Vasan, R. M and Charan, H. D, 1994. Behavior of plastic fibre-reinforced sand, Journal of Geotextile Geomembranes; 13(8), 555-565. [13] Ranjan, G., Vasan, R. M and Charan, H. D, 1996. Probabilistic Analysis of Randomly Distributed Fiber-Reinforced Soil, J. of Geotechnical Eng. ASCE; 122 (6), 419-26. [14] Ranjan, G., Singh, B and Charan, H.D, (1999). Experimental study of soft clay reinforced with sand-fiber core, Indian geotechnical Journal; 29 (4), 281-291. [15] Rao, G. V and Balan, K, 2000. Coir geotextilesEmerging trends, Kerala State Coir Corporation Limited; Alappuzha, Kerala, India. [16] Saran, S, 2010. Reinforced Soil and its Engineering Applications, I. K. International Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2nd Edition. [17] Singh, H.P, 2009. Liquefaction studies of composite materials, Ph.D. Thesis; Dept. of Earthquake Engg., IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, India. [18] Singh, H.P, 2011.Strength Characteristics of Fly ash Reinforced with Geosynthetic Fiber, International Journal of Earth Science and Engineering; 04 (06), 969-971. [19] Sivakumar Babu, G. L and Vasudevan, A. K, 2005.

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Strength and stiffness behavior of coir fiberreinforced soil, Indian Geotechnical Conference; Banglore, 1, 329-333.Ayyappan, S., Hemalatha, K.. and Sundaram, M. (2010). Investigation of Engineering Behavior of Soil, Polypropylene Fibers and Fly Ash -Mixtures for Road Construction. International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 1, No. 2. ISSN:2010-0264 [20] IS: 2720, Part XVI, 1965. Laboratory determination

of CBR, Bureau of Indian Standards; New Delhi. [21] Jadhao, D. P. and Nagarnaik, P.B. (2008). Performance Evaluation of Fiber Reinforced SoilFly Ash Mixtures. The Sivakumar Babu, G. L. and Vasudevan, A. K. (2008). Strength and stiffness response of coir fiber- reinforced tropical soil. ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering; 20(9), 571-577

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 05 (02), October 2012, pp. 1438-1442