Department of Civil Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Madras

CE5350 GEOSYNTHETICS AND REINFORCED SOIL STRUCTURES

January May 2017

Assignment Problems (Reinforced soil beds & retaining walls)

Date: 11-03-2017

Due date: 29-03-2017

1. Perform the calculations for a reinforced soil bed with the following data.

Width of footing = 2 m, line load is 2500 kN/m

Soil Parameters:

c =0 kPa, = 32, =19 kN/m3, Es = 35,000 kPa, s =0.30

Reinforcement Parameters:

Continuous type geogrid reinforcement (LDR=1.0), interface friction angle () = 30, factor of
safety required against pullout (FSf) of geogrid layers is 2.5. Use bearing capacity factor of Nq=23.2,
N=30.2 to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity.

Four reinforcement layers are provided at vertical spacing of 300 mm. The first layer is provided at a
depth of 500 mm below the footing. Recommend the safe tensile load capacity for each of the
layers.

Depth of foundation =1m, Width of footing =2m, Allowable settlement =30 mm. Use shape factor of
2.0 for the settlement calculations.

2. Design of reinforced soil wall

Design a reinforced soil retaining wall which has design height of 10 m. The backfill soil is
horizontal. QDL=20 kPa, QLL=25 kPa. Assume that flexible geogrids are used for reinforcement
layers. Recommend the length of reinforcement layers and the tensile strength of reinforcement
layers at different depths. Use reasonable strength reduction factors.

You may use the excel spread sheet program for design of the wall. Show hand calculations of
external stability analyses for any one length of the reinforced soil block. For the bottom most
reinforcement layer, show the hand calculations of internal stability analyses. Assume any
reasonable values for all the required parameters. Additional data for design is given below.

M.Tech.- boys Structure in Zone-IV

Reinforced fill: c=0, =30, =20 kN/m3
Backfill soil: c=0, =30, =18 kN/m3
Foundation soil is same as backfill soil
Reinforcement layers are placed at uniform vertical spacing of 750 mm. Soil is placed in layers of
250 mm thick.
M.Tech. girls Structure in Zone-II

Reinforced fill: c=0, =33, =20 kN/m3

Backfill soil: c=0, =30, =18 kN/m3
Foundation soil is same as backfill soil
Reinforcement layers are placed at uniform vertical spacing of 600 mm. Soil is compacted in 300
mm thick layers.
B.Tech. students - Structure is in Zone-III

Reinforced fill: c=0, =30, =20 kN/m3

Backfill soil: c=0, =28, =18 kN/m3
Foundation soil is same as backfill soil
Reinforcement layers are placed at uniform vertical spacing of 700 mm. Soil is compacted in 350
mm thick layers.