Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology

ISSN: 0169-4243 (Print) 1568-5616 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tast20

Investigation of the deformability properties of

fiber reinforced cemented sand

Moein Ghadakpour, Asskar Janalizadeh Choobbasti & Saman Soleimani

Kutanaei

To cite this article: Moein Ghadakpour, Asskar Janalizadeh Choobbasti & Saman Soleimani
Kutanaei (2019) Investigation of the deformability properties of fiber reinforced cemented sand,
Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 33:17, 1913-1938, DOI:
10.1080/01694243.2019.1619224

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01694243.2019.1619224

Published online: 29 May 2019.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 16

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tast20
JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2019, VOL. 33, NO. 17, 1913–1938
https://doi.org/10.1080/01694243.2019.1619224

Investigation of the deformability properties of fiber reinforced

cemented sand
Moein Ghadakpour, Asskar Janalizadeh Choobbasti and
Saman Soleimani Kutanaei
Department of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

In this study, 72 consolidated drained triaxial tests have been car- ried out Received 21 January 2019
to evaluate the effect of relative density, weight ratio of fibers, weight Revised 24 April 2019
ratio of cement and confining pressure on the deformability properties Accepted 4 May 2019
of specimens made from Babolsar sand, Portland cement type II and
KEYWORDS
polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers. The results of this study show that the Fiber; cement; E50; secant
stiffness corresponding to 50% of the shear strength increases with the stiffness; tangent stiffness;
addition of cement. The presence of fibers within the cement specimen energy absorption
reduces stiffness. On the other hand, for uncemented specimen, adding
fibers can reduce the stiffness of the specimens by 80% density, while
add- ing fibers increases stiffness for specimens with 50% density.
Adding cement to sand increases the secant stiffness at lower strains,
but at high strains, cement content does not affect the secant stiffness.
For specimens with relative density of 80%, in low strains, adding
fibers reduces the secant stiffness. In high strains, the presence of fibers
increases the secant stiffness. The distance between the yielding point
and failure point increases with increasing confining pressure and
fiber content, but adding cement reduces this distance. The yielding
point of cemented sample depends on cement content and confining
pressure. The inclusion of PVA fibers to the cemented soil increases
the energy absorption. The addition of cement increases the energy
absorp- tion, but the amount of energy absorption increase is not
signifi- cant. Moreover, the increase of confining pressure increases the
difference in the absorbed energy of the specimens with different
relative densities.

Introduction
Sometimes the soil in the construction site is not ideal and quite desirable to construc-
tion projects. The construction of structures on inappropriate soils have technical and
engineering problems such as the collapse or cracking of buildings, the heterogeneous
settlement of foundation and soil swelling [1–8]. Various improvement methods exist
for improving the soil properties in the site, such as reinforcing, stabilizing with

CONTACT Asskar Janalizadeh Choobbasti asskar@nit.ac.ir Department of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani
University of Technology, P.O. Box 484, Babol, Iran
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

chemical agents, increasing the density and lowering the groundwater level. Selection
of improvement methods depends on several factors such as soil type, fine grain per-
centage, area and depth of improvement, the desired strength, type of equipment,
materials and cost of refinement. There are different goals for soil improvement, which
can be attributed to increasing the bearing capacity, increasing slop stability and
decreasing the foundation settlement [9–18]. Among the improvement methods, stabi-
lizing and reinforcing the soil has always been considered by engineers [19–29]. Soil
stabilization by cement materials increases stiffness, reduces the flexibility and brittle
soil behavior In order to repair brittle behavior, reinforcing method can be used. The
addition of discrete fibers to cement soil leads to increase in strength and decreases
stiffness. On the other hand, the addition of the fiber reduces the loss of strength after
the failure and provides ductile behavior to the cement soil. Therefore, the simultan-
eous use of fibers and cement is a good way to improve soil engineering fea-
tures [30–37].
A number of researches have also been performed on soil mixed with randomly
distributed fiber. In general, additional of randomly distributed fiber improves the
mechanical properties of soils by increasing the peak cohesive and peak internal
friction angle. Gray and Al-Refeai [38] performed drained triaxial tests on fiber
reinforced sand with different fiber content. They reported that up to certain con-
fining pressure, failure of fiber reinforced sand occurs by frictional slipping of the
reinforcement elements. For confining pressures higher than the critical pressures,
failure of reinforced sand is governed by the tensile strength of the reinforcement
elements. Noorzad and Zarinkolaei [39] conducted a series of drained triaxial
compression and direct shear tests in order to explore the shear behavior fiber
reinforced sand. They indicate that both internal friction angle and cohesion inter-
cept increased with increasing fiber content. Moreover, they reported that the role
of reinforcement elements in improving shear strength parameters is much more
considerable in triaxial test than in direct shear test.
A number of studies have also been performed on cemented sand reinforced with
fiber. Consoli et al. [40] performed static triaxial tests on fiber reinforced cemented
sand. They observed that fiber and cement inclusion led to an increase in the internal
friction angle. It was also reported that glass and polyester fiber slightly decreased the
peak cohesion. Kutanaei and Choobbasti [11] performed a series of static consolidated-
drained triaxial compression tests on cemented sand reinforced with randomly distrib-
uted fiber. The results also showed that the peak cohesion is only due to the bonded
structure of sand which is a function of cement content and is approximately inde-
pendent of fiber content.
Researchers conducted on the field of fiber reinforced cemented soil have focused
the strength aspects of these materials, but in this study, a comprehensive study has
been done on the effects of various factors such as relative density, fiber content,
cement content confining pressure on the deformability properties of fiber reinforced
cemented sand using triaxial test. In this study, 72 consolidated drained triaxial tests
have been carried out to evaluate the effect of relative density, weight ratio of fibers,
weight ratio of cement and confining pressure on the deformability properties of speci-
mens made from Babolsar sand, Portland cement type II and PVA fibers. This study
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1
Table 1. Variables in testing program.
Confining pressures (kPa) Cement content, CC (%) Fiber content, FC (%) Dry density Total number of tests
50, 100, 300 and 500 0, 2 and 4 0, 0.5 and 1 50 and 80 72

Figure 1. Particle size distribution.

aims to explore the E50, secant stiffness, tangent stiffness and energy absorption of fiber
reinforced cemented sand.

Experimental program
To investigate the impacts of cement content, fiber content and dray density on shear
strength parameters of sand a total of 72 consolidated-drained triaxial compression
tests were performed. All the variables considered in testing program are presented in
Table 1.

Materials
Babolsar sand which is used in this study is a clean uniform quartz sand from beach of
Babolsar city in the north of Iran with specific gravity of 2.78, maximum and minimum
voids ratios of 0.8 and 0.526, a mean grain size (D50) of 0.22 mm, a uniformity coeffi-
cient of 2.12 and a curvature coefficient of 1.32. It is also grouped as poorly graded
sand (SP) due to the Unified Soil Classification System. The grain distribution curve of
Babolsar sand is given in Figure 1. The physical properties of the Babolsar sand are
presented in Table 2.
The cement agent used in the study was ordinary Portland cement type II.
The chemical and physical properties of cement are shown in Tables 3 and 4,
respectively. In order to determine the maximum and minimum unit weight of cement-
sand mixtures, tests were carried out according to ASTM D4253 and ASTM
D4254.
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Table 2. Index properties of sand.

Parameter Description Value Standard method
emax Maximum void ratio 0.8 ASTM D 4254
emin Minimum void ratio 0.526 ASTM D 4253
Gs Specific gravity 2.78 ASTM D854
Cu ¼ D60=D10 Coefficient of uniformity 2.128 —
Cc ¼ ½D230 =ðD60 × D10 Þ] Coefficient of gradation 1.322 —
D50 Mean grain size of the sand ðmmÞ 0.22 —

Table 3. Chemical compositions of cement (wt.%).

Oxide SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 CaCO3 LO.l
PC 21.90 4.86 3.30 63.33 1.15 2.10 – 2.40
PC: Ordinary Portland cement.

Table 4. Analysis of physical properties of cement.

Compressive strength (kg/cm2)
Blaine (cm2/g) Expansion (autoclave) (%) Specific gravity 3 Days 7 Days 28 Days
3050 0.05 3.1 185 295 397

Table 5. Properties of PVA fiber.

Specific Tensile Young Water
gravity Cut length (mm) Diameter (mm) strength (MPa) modulus (MPa) Melting point absorption
1.3 12 0.1 1078 25000 225oC <1% by Weight

PVA fibers with 0.1 mm in diameter and 12 mm in length are used in research. The
properties of the PVA fibers are presented in Table 5. Distilled water was used for sam-
ple preparation.

Test equipment
In this study, stress-controlled static tiraxial tests were carried out using a triaxial sys-
tem manufactured by HEICO Company (Figure 2). The main system components
include the following parts: load frame and actuator, distribution panel, triaxial cell,
air/water bladder, servo reservoir assembly, automatic volume change apparatus and
IMACS controller. The servo reservoir assembly comprises of a regulator to set the
desired pressure, a reservoir to balance any changes in the air supply pressure, two
water traps and two pneumatic servo values for controlling confining pressure and
back pressure. Distributed panel controls flow of water from water tank into the air/
water bladder, automatic volume change apparatus and the triaxial cell. Triaxial appar-
atus includes two column load frame, with a servo-pneumatic actuator with internal
displacement transducer. Axial displacement is measured using a displacement trans-
ducer with a range of 50 mm. Axial load is controlled using a load cell with a capacity
of 15 kN, which is placed inside the triaxial cell. The clear acrylic cylinder of the triaxial
cell has a working pressure of 1500 kPa and is tested to 2000 kPa. Pore water pressure
changes are measured by pressure transducer which is connected to the bottom and
top of samples. A volume change apparatus contains transducer to measure the volume
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 2. Photo of experimental setup.

changes of saturated samples. An air/water bladder is used to provide cell pressure dur-
ing testing. The IMACS data acquisition and control system is used to record data
from the transducers and transfer them to the computer for processing.

Sample preparation
Sample preparation method has significant effect on triaxial test results. Since the
homogeneity of the sample plays an important role in the obtained results, it is tried to
choose a sample preparation method which gives the most homogeneous sample. Its
various studies different methods were used such as wet sedimentation, wet tamping,
dry tamping and dry deposition methods. The under compaction technique was used
for specimen preparation in this study based on the method described by Ladd [41].
The requisite amount of oven dried sand was mixed with the desired amount of
Portland cement and optimum water content. During the specimen preparation, it was
important to add the water prior to adding the randomly distributed fibers to prevent
floating of the fibers. Fibers was then added and mixed using an electric mixer. After
mixing process, the mixture was then divided into five portions and stored in a covered
container to avoid moisture losses before compaction. Each portion was transferred
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

into a 52 mm in diameter by 104 mm in height split mold and compacted using a metal
hammer until the desired height was reached. The top of each layer was scratched
before adding the next layer to promote suitable bonding. The tests were conducted on
the specimens with relative densities of 50% and 80%. Cemented specimens was
extracted from the split mold and was cured in a humid room at a constant tempera-
ture of 25 ± 2◦C and >90% relative humidity for 7 days.

Test procedure
A total 72 series of static triaxial tests were carried out in this study due to ASTM
D7181. Since the mold should be detached from the sample, after the sample prepar-
ation, the required stability of uncemented sample provided by applying a vacuum of
about 15 kPa from the top of sample. After placement of triaxial cell on the
pedestal and filling it with de-aired water, cell pressure was increased to 15 kPa and
vacuum pressure was discharged simultaneously. Then carbon dioxide (CO2) was
passed through the sample for about 2 hour and was replaced with air bubbles in the
sample for its easier dissolution in water at saturation stage. Subsequently, de-aired
water was passed through the sample under a low pressure (1–3 kPa) until the amount of
water passing through the sample was reached at least twice the initial volume of the
sample. Then, back pressure was applied up to 350 kPa in order to achieve full
saturation which was considered reaching to a B-value of at least 0.95. The samples
were isotropically consolidated to a requisite confining pressure. Fore confining
pressures (i.e, 50, 100, 300, and 500 kPa) were used. Then, drained static triaxial
testing strain-controlled test- ing was carried out with the strain rate of 0.02%.

Results and discussion

Secant stiffness for half shear strength
Stiffness is one of the design parameters in geotechnical problems that determines the
amount of deformation created. Figures 3–7 represent the secant stiffness for half shear
strength (E50). It can be seen that the addition of cement increases the E50: The add-
ition of cement due to the creation of cement bonds between the sand grains together
also with the sand grains with fibers, increases the maximum deviatoric stress. On the
other hand, the axial strain corresponding to the maximum deviatoric stresses is
reduced by increasing the weight ratio of the cement. Therefore, adding cement
increases the E50: Also, the E50 of specimens increase with increasing confining pres-
sure. On the other hand, increasing the weight ratio of the cement increases the stiff-
ness of the specimens due to increase in strength and the number of cement bonds
between the particles. Regarding the role of cement on the stiffness of reinforced speci-
mens, it can be said that in uncemented reinforced specimens, the slippage of the fiber
is more straightforward than the cemented specimens. In cemented specimens, as pre-
viously mentioned, the presence of cement increases the bonding of fiber soil and also
increases the effective contact level between sand particles and fiber, as a result, reduces
the tendency to slip the fibers, and therefore, for a constant axial strain, shows the
more shear strength. Therefore, in reinforced specimens, cementation, in addition to
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 3. Variation of E50 with fiber content for uncemented sample with relative density of 80%
at different confining pressures.

Figure 4. Variation of E50 with fiber content for sample with relative density of 80 and 2% cement
at different confining pressures.

creating cement bonding between particles, increases the mobilized force of the fiber
by improving the interaction features and increases the stiffness of the reinforced speci-
mens. Correira et al. [42] explored the impact of polypropylene fiber and binder on the
mechanical properties of soft soil. They found that the increment of binder quantity
improves the tensile strength, the compressive strength and the deformability coeffi-
cient of the soil.
Figure 3 shows that the addition of fibers reduces the stiffness of cement and unce-
mented specimens in relative density of 80%. The stiffness of a composite material
depends on the stiffness of the materials forming it. Since the stiffness of the fibers
used in this study is lower than the specimens, the addition of a flexible material to the
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Figure 5. Variation of E50 with fiber content for sample with relative density of 80 and 4% cement
at different confining pressures.

specimens reduces stiffness. Kutanaei and Choobbasti [11] conducted a series of con-
solidated drained triaxial tests to investigate the impact of addition of polypropylene
fibers and Portland cement on the triaxial shear behavior of sandy soil. They reported
that the stiffness of cement stabilized sand decreases 20–35% with 0.5% fiber content.
Hamidi and Hooresfand [43] performed consolidated drained triaxial compression
tests on polypropylene fiber reinforced cement-stabilized sand in dry conditions. They
reported that as percentage of fiber increased from 0.0 to 1%, E50 decreased to half of
its initial value.
However, unlike most of the studies carried out, it cannot be stated that the addition
of polymer materials always reduces the stiffness of the specimens. Haeri et al. [ 44] per-
formed triaxial tests to investigate the effect of the properties of geotextile on the stiff-
ness of sandy soil. They selected three different types of geotextile with different load-
elongation feature. The results of their research indicate that the stiffness of reinforced
sand specimens can be more, less or even equal to unreinforced specimens depending
on load-elongation properties of reinforced elements. Since only one type of fiber with
the same length and properties has been used in this research, therefore, it is impos-
sible to evaluate the effect of reinforced properties such as the load-elongation feature
on the stiffness of the specimens. However, by reducing the relative density of the spe-
cimen, which reduces the stiffness of the soil, it can simulate a similar effect by adding
stiffer reinforcement element to the soil. For this purpose, the E50 changes of reinforced
uncementd specimens with the relative density of 50% for different fiber weight ratios
and confining pressures has been plotted in Figure 6. It can be seen that the stiffness of
the specimens with 0.5% of the fibers is approximately the same as unreinforced speci-
mens. Also, addition of 1% fiber to unreinforced specimens increases E50: Adding
fibers to the soil creates additional confining pressures. Since the stiffness of the gran-
ule materials is significantly dependent on the confining pressure, hence the addition
of the fibers will increase it. However, for specimens made with 80% relative density, it
was observed that the addition of fibers reduces the stiffness of the specimens.
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 6. Variation of E50 with fiber content for uncemented sample with relative density of 50%
at different confining pressures.

Figure 7. Variation of E50 with fiber content for sample with relative density of 50 and 2% cement
at different confining pressures.

Therefore, this behavior again implies the dependence of the stiffness of a complex
compound to stiffness of its constituent elements. In order to confirm the result men-
tioned of the changes in E50; the stiffness of specimens with 2% cement and the relative
density of 50%, have been plotted in terms of fiber content and confining pressures in
Figure 7. Figure 7 reveals that, unlike unreinforced specimens, adding fibers to
cemented specimens with a relative density of 50% decreases E50: As stated, the stiff-
ness of cemented specimens is higher than uncemented specimens; hence, the differ-
ence of stiffness of the fiber is more pronounced in cemented specimens and the effect
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

of flexibility of the fibers predominates by increasing the additional confining pressures

and, as a result, the stiffness of the specimen is decreased. Ple and Le [45] conducted
tension and compression tests on clayey soil reinforced with polypropylene fiber. Their
results revealed a significant increase in deformability coefficient in the compres-
sion tests.
Comparison of Figures 3–5 with Figures 6 and 7 shows that for a given fibers con-
tent and cement constant and confining pressures, increasing the relative density
increases the stiffness of specimens. Increasing the relative density of the specimens
causes the particles to interlock with each other and make the particles in a stable
order. The tendency of particles to slip on each other decreases when the specimen is
subjected to shear stress and the specimen deformation is due to the deformation of
the grains. Since the stress required for grain deformation is greater than the stress
required for slipping particles, it is expected that the stiffness of the specimens will
increase with increasing density. On the other hand, typically, the surface friction or
interaction of the fibers with soil grains is usually less than particles of soil with each
other. Similar result was reported by Muntohar [46] for lime and rice husk ash-treated
fine-grained soils that yields a substantial increase in cohesion and minor improvement
in the internal friction angle. Moreover increasing the undried cohesion with the inclu-
sion of polypropylene fibers was also reported by Cai et al. [47] for lime treated clay.
The tensile strength of fibers and other reinforcements also depends on the degree of
interaction between the soil grains and the reinforcement materials. Therefore, the
effectiveness of fiber is strongly dependent on the interaction of particles with the sur-
face of the fibers. The high relative density of the specimen improves the interaction of
the fiber with soil particles. On the other hand, the dense specimens during the shear
loading have more tendency to dilate than the loose specimen, and the interaction fea-
tures during the shear loading are still improving and, as a result, the amount of tensile
strength mobilized in the fiber increases in order to create a definite deformation in
the specimen and the specimen shows a higher shear strength. This makes it possible
to increase the stiffness of the specimens in the reinforced specimens by increasing the
relative density. The same behavior was observed by different researchers for different
types of soils and different reinforcement. Da Costa et al. [1] evaluated the behavior of
reinforced sand with polypropylene fiber in triaxial experiments. The result of their
research was indicating that increase in relative density leads to increasing the mechan-
ical properties of reinforced soil and increase in stiffness. For cemented specimens, the
increase in relative density makes it possible to reduce the pores inside the specimen,
and as a result, the surface covered with cement, which is inactive, is reduced (the sur-
face of the grains adjacent to the pores). Therefore, from this perspective, increasing
relative density leads to increase in stiffness.
Figure 6 also shows that increasing the confining pressures leads to an increase in
the stiffness of reinforced and unreinforced specimens. In fact, increasing the confining
pressures increases the contact level of the particles. Therefore, increasing the confining
pressures will increase the friction of the particles. Hence, a higher shear stress level is
required to produce a certain strain, and stiffness increases. The increase in confining
pressures makes it possible to reduce the slip of particles on the other by loading, and
that the deformations of the specimen are due to the deformation of the each particle.
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 8. Variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for sample with relative density of 80 and
1% fiber cement at confining pressure of 500 kPa.

Deformation of particles is reversible and elastic. The deformation caused by a slip is

plastic and irreversible, which is the main reason for the reduction of stiffness.
Therefore, increasing the confining pressures gives a pre-consolidation mode to the
specimen and prevents the slip of the particles, and thus the stiffness of the specimens
increases. Increasing the confining pressures in the reinforced specimens in addition to
the stated mechanism causes to more penetration of soil particles into the surface of
the fiber (increasing the contact surface of the fibers with the soil and improving the
interaction of soil and fibers particles) and, as a result, decreases the tendency to slip
particles at the surface of the fibers. Therefore, the amount of tensile force mobilized in
the fiber will increase for a definite deformation. Hence, increasing confining pressure
in reinforced specimens can increase the stiffness. It should be noted that for cement
specimens, high confining pressures (it has been not observed in this study) can cause
the cement bond crushing between particles during the consolidation phase and, as a
result, reduce stiffness.

Secant stiffness
The secant stiffness was calculated from straight lines were drawn up to certain axial
strain through the stress–strain curves and the slope of these lines is taken as the secant
stiffness. Figure 8 shows the variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for sample
with relative density of 80% and 1% fiber at confining pressure of 500 kPa. It can be
seen that the increase in axial strain decreases the secant stiffness. Also, in logarithmic
space, the secant stiffness at the low strain level is almost constant. At the low strain
level, since the particles are interconnected, they do not slip on each other and the
deformations are due to each particle. Since the particle deformation in this strain
range is less irreversible, therefore, no significant reduction is observed in the range of
low strains. But in high strains, deformations tend to slip, and these irreversible
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Figure 9. Variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for uncemented sample with relative density
of 80% and different fiber contents at confining pressure of 500 kPa.

deformations lead to a reduction in the secant stiffness. Figure 8 also shows that
increasing the weight ratio of cement has a significant effect on the increase of secant
stiffness in low strain levels. However, the curves of the secant stiffness for the speci-
mens are equal to the cemented sample in the high strain levels. At low strains level,
due to the strong cement bonds between the specimen particles as well as strong bonds
between the soil grains and fiber, the secant stiffness is also high. Whereas, the cement
bond between the particles is destroyed in high strain levels and, the strength and stiff-
ness is reduced. In other words, in the high strains due to the removal of the cement
agent, the behavior of the specimens with different cement contents are same.
Figure 9 shows the variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for uncemented
sample with relative density of 80% and different fiber contents at confining pressure
of 500 kPa. As shown in Figure 9, increasing the weight ratio of the fibers reduces the
secant stiffness in the small strain level. However, the secant stiffness in the high strain
level for specimens with a 1% fiber is higher than other specimens. In other words, the
increasing weight ratio of fibers causes increase in stiffness at the high strain level. This
behavior can be due to the mechanism and performance of the fiber. Generally, rein-
forced elements increase the strength when occurs relative displacement between the
soil particles and the reinforcement elements. In low strain levels because the relative
displacement is low due to the flexibility of the fibers, the reinforced specimens have
lower stiffness than unreinforced samples. However, in high strain levels a significant
strength in fibers is mobilized due to the high relative displacement and ultimately
increases the secant stiffness. It should be noted that the unreinforced specimen has
high stiffness reduction rates compared to reinforced specimen. The specimen contains
1% fiber has milder stiffness reduction rates. This behavior may seem logical due to the
interaction of the fiber and sample grains. Strong interaction causes the lake of ten-
dency of fibers to slip and thus increase the elastic range.
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 10. Variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for unreinforced uncemented sample with
relative density of 80% at different confining pressures.

The role of confining pressure on the degradation curves of unreinforced sand with
relative density of 80%, under different confining pressure, has been shown in Figure
10. As can be seen, the secant stiffness of the specimens in all strain levels increases by
increasing confining pressure. Increasing the confining pressure leads to particle
rearrangement in a denser state, as a result, the interlocking and the surface of the con-
tact between the particles will increase. Hence, the amount of stress is required to slip
and deformation of the particles, which confirms the higher stiffness. On the other
hand, as mentioned earlier, due to the higher vertical stress between the soil grains,
more shear stress is required for the slip of particles on each other, which increases the
secant stiffness of the specimens in all levels of the strain due to increase in confining
pressure. On the other hand, the tendency of particles to slip is reduced as a result of
the increase in the confining pressure. This phenomenon increases the contribution of
reversible strains to the specimen by shear loading. This behavior is visible in
Figure 10. As seen in the figure, under the confining pressure of 50 kPa compared to
confining pressure of 500 kPa, the starting point for the start of a significant drop in
secant stiffness begins at a lower strain level.
In order to investigate the effect of relative density of specimens on secant stiffness,
variation of secant stiffness in terms of axial strain for uncemented specimens with
relative density of 50% reinforced with different fiber contents under the confining
pressure of 500 kPa has been presented in Figure 11. Evaluating the Figure 11 and its
comparison with Figure 9 shows that for uncemented specimens with relative density
of 50%, in contrast to the specimens with relative density of 80%, the addition of fibers
increases the secant stiffness at all levels of strain. Reason for this behavior is being
lower of the stiffness of unreinforced specimens’ matrix. On the other hand, the reduc-
tion of secant stiffness due to the increase in axial strain for specimens with a relative
density of 50% is less than specimens with a relative density of 80%. In this regard, it
can be said that decreasing the relative density of specimens reduces the tendency of
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Figure 11. Variation of secant stiffness with axial strain for uncemented sample with relative
dens- ity of 50% and different fiber contents at confining pressure of 500 kPa.

dilation during shear loading (Figure 12). Consequently, for a given strain development
the specimens suffer from less strength and as a result, the rate of secant stiffness
reduction will decrease. It is also possible to compare the curves for different densities,
which shows that for samples with relative density of 80%, the relatively constant part
of secant stiffness curve continues up to higher strains. In other words, since the speci-
mens with a lower density during shear loading, the tendency to slip particles is more
than the deformation of the grains; hence a significant reduction of stiffness occurs in
low strains.

Tangent stiffness
Specimen yielding will occur at a point where the tangent stiffness are dramatically
reduced. Also, the failure occurs at a point where the tangent stiffness is equal to 1.
Figures 13 and 14 show the variation of tangent stiffness with axial strain for unre-
inforced sample with relative density of 80 and 2 and 0% cement content, respectively.
As shown in Figures 13 and 14, tangent stiffness decreases by increasing axial strain as
secant stiffness. On the other hand, the addition of cement due to the bonding between
particles increases tangent stiffness for all strains. It should be noted that the curves are
drawn up before the failure, and therefore cement bonds are not completely destroyed
and play its role in mechanical behavior. Also, increasing the confining pressure due to
the increase in the contact surface of the particles will increase the tangent stiffness. On
the other hand, for uncemented specimens compared to cemented specimens, the
increase in confining pressure has a significant effect on increase in stiffness. The rea-
son for this behavior is the presence of a cement bond between the cement specimen
particles, which makes it impossible to compress sand particles due to the confining
pressure, and the contact surface between the grains does not increase. In other words,
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 12. Stress-strain and volume change behavior of samples with 0.5% fiber and 2% cement.

cement bonding prevents proper transmission of confining pressure. Therefore, the

confining pressure has little effect on the increase in tangent stiffness of the cemented
specimens. Tangent stiffness difference of cement and uncemented specimens is high
in low confining pressure and this difference decreases with increasing confining pres-
sure. As stated above, the tangent stiffness of cemented specimens does not increase
significantly due to increase in confining pressure, while the stiffness and strength of
the sand are strongly dependent on the confining pressure, and the tangent stiffness
increases significantly with increasing confining pressure. Therefore, this reduction in
the difference in tangent stiffness, due to the increase in confining pressure, seems
logical, and it can be expected that in high confining pressure which causes the
destruction of cement bonds, the stiffness of cemented and uncement specimens to be
equal. This behavior was observed in research carried out by Marii [48], who observed
the behavior of cement sand in drained and undrained triaxial tests under high confin-
ing pressures. Comparison of tangent stiffness diagrams also shows that in cement
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Figure 13. Variation of tangent stiffness with axial strain for unreinforced sample with relative
density of 80 and 2% cement.

Figure 14. Variation of tangent stiffness with axial strain for unreinforced uncemented sample
with relative density of 80%.

specimens, especially at low tangent pressures, there is not much difference between
yielding strain and failure strain and after yielding, failure occurs quickly. The reason
for this behavior can be attributed to the high stiffness and fragility of cement bonds.
The high stiffness and fragility of these bonds cause the loss of strength and sudden
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 15. Stress-strain behavior of unreinforced uncemented samples with relative density of
80%.

failure occurs immediately after yielding of the cement bonds. On the other hand,
increasing confining pressure improves the behavior and creates a distance between
the yielding strain and failure strain. In other words, in cemented specimens under
low confining pressure, failure and yielding occurs simultaneously, and in very
high confining pressure failure and yielding have a distance. At very high confining
pressures, cement bonds are destroyed during the consolidation process and there-
fore, in the shear loading step, the cemented specimen will have the same behavior
as the uncemented specimen. At confining pressure less than the yielding strength
of cement bonds, part of the strength of cement bonds will remain after the con-
solidation stage. In the shear loading stage, cement bonds are gradually destroyed
with increasing shear stress. After destroying the cement bond, the behavior of the
cemented specimen became similar uncemented specimens. The behavior of the
cemented specimen before reaching the level of yielding of cements bonds will be
elastic and afterwards elasto-plastic. In this case, cemented specimens are simultan-
eously occurred in mode of yielding and failure. At very low confining pressures,
the strength of cement bonds remains completely intact. In this case, cemented
specimens show an elastic and linear behavior before reaching the yielding level of
cement bonding. In this mode of behavior, the yielding and failure of cemented
specimens occurs simultaneously.
Investigating tangent stiffness changes in terms of axial strain changes for unce-
mented specimens shows that a similar process is observed with cemented specimens.
In uncemented specimens under low confining pressure, the yielding is observed.
However, in high confining pressure, tangent stiffness changes have a mild decrease
process from the beginning to the end of the test. This behavior was expected accord-
ing to the stress-strain curve (Figure 15). As a result, it can be stated that the yielding
of soil bonds is a function of the combined effect of confining pressure and shear
stress. When the specimen under the high confining pressure, slipping the particles on
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Figure 16. Variation of tangent stiffness with axial strain for sample with relative density of 80
and 2% cement at confining pressures of 500 kPa.

the other, causes less dilatation and, as a result, will lead to flexibility of the behavior,
as well as the lack of effectiveness of the weight ratio of the cement to the behavior.
Figure. 16 shows the variation of tangent stiffness with axial strain for sample with
relative density of 80% and 2% cement at different confining pressures. As shown in
Figure 16, the addition of fibers due to its high flexibility reduces the initial tangent
stiffness. This reduction in tangent stiffness continues until the relative displacement
between grain and fiber mobilizes strength in fiber. When the tensile stress is mobilized
in the fiber, it prevents from spreading the small cracks due to the bridging effect and,
as a result, prevents a suddenly drop in the stress-strain curve, which represents the
stiffness. Also, the distance between the yielding strain and failure strain, increases by
increasing the fiber content due to increasing the possibility of stress transfer between
the two sides of the small cracks. This behavior proves a ductile behavior even before
failure breaking. On the other hand, due to no severe influence of specimen from for-
mation of small cracks due to the addition of fibers, the increase of the fiber content
leads to an increase in the yielding strain. This behavior was also expected from
another aspect. As mentioned in other researches, the addition of reinforcement elem-
ent leads to creation of additional confining pressure. On the other hand, due to the
friction between the particles and fiber, the tendency to increase the volume and dila-
tion of the specimens is reduced. As a result, during shear loading by adding fibers, the
tendency to openness of the interlock of particles will be reduced, and thus the reduc-
tion in strength and tangent stiffness will be decreased.

Energy absorption
One of the most important properties of the material is energy absorption, especially in
the case of seismic designs. In many engineering structures, such as machinery and
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 17. Variation of energy absorbing with fiber content for sample with relative density of
80% and 4% cement.

Figure 18. Variation of energy absorbing with fiber content for uncemented sample with relative
density of 80%.

building foundation, the use of energy absorbing materials is posed. In this regard, is
recommended to addition of flexible materials such as rubber chips to the soil. The
energy absorbed represents the energy required to creation of deformation in the
material. The energy absorbed in the triaxial test can be calculated by determining the
area of the stress-strain curve.
Figures 17 and 18 show the variation of energy absorbing with fiber content for
unreinforced sample with relative density of 80 and 4 and 0% cement content, respect-
ively. The presence of fiber within the specimen results in create the tensile force in the
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

reinforcement materials by the effect of deformation created in soil, and these tensile
forces in the fiber increase the strength and thereby increase the area below the stress-
strain curve. Ahmad et al. [49] investigated the effect of oil-palm empty-fruit-bunch
fiber on the triaxial compression behavior of reinforced silty sand. They found that the
shear strength parameters of the silty sand-fiber mixture can be improved significantly.
On the other hand, due to the flexibility of the fibers, It becomes too long due to the
deformations created in the specimen, and will prevent the suddenly drop of the sam-
ple strength due to failure. Also, the fibers after the formation of the cracks by bridging
and transferring tensions between the two sides of cracks will prevent the more open-
ing of cracks and reduces the drop in shear strength. Also, the amount of fiber passing
through the cracks will increase by increasing the weight ratio of the fiber. On the
other hand, the addition of fibers creates an additional confining pressure, which
reduces the drop in shear strength. All of the above reasons lead to increase in area of
the under the stress-strain curve as a result of adding the fiber and thus the amount of
energy absorption increases. Cabalar et al. [50,51] reported that the clay with tyre buff-
ings demonstrates a significant increase in energy dissipation due to the excellent
energy absorption capacity of tyre buffings. It should be noted that in all cemented and
uncemented specimens with relative density of 80%, the addition of fibers reduces stiff-
ness, which has a negative effect on the energy absorption capacity.
The evaluation of Figure 17 shows that increasing the confining pressure causes
increase in energy absorption. Increasing the confining pressure from one side will
increase the maximum shear strength and stiffness and reduce the drop of shear
strength after the failure, as a result, the area of under curve increases which it repre-
sents the energy absorption. This behavior was observed for both cemented and unce-
mented specimens. For reinforced specimens, an increase in confining pressure lead to
increase in the interaction of soil particles with fibers and, the fiber’s tendency to
slip by the loading will be reduced, and more strength is mobilized in fibers. Therefore,
in reinforced specimens, increasing the confining pressure increases the area under the
stress-strain curve and, as a result, increases the amount of energy absorption. The
evaluation of energy absorption diagrams from the point of view of the weight ratio of
cement indicates that the addition of cement increases the energy absorption. The
amount of energy absorption increase is not significant. The reason for this should be
investigated after the failure of specimens. Although the addition of cement due to the
creation of cement bonds between soil particles and also the proper interaction with
fibers increases the maximum shear strength and stiffness, but the residual strength of
the cemented and uncemented specimens are similar after the destruction of cement
bonds. On the other hand, the strength reduction is significant for cemented speci-
mens. Therefore, the area of under stress-strain curves of cemented and uncemented
specimens does not differ significantly.
Figure 18 shows the variation of energy absorption ratio with confining pressure for
sample with relative density of 80%. (the ratio between the peak energy absorption cap-
acity for reinforced sample to unreinforced sample). As it can be seen, an increase in
cement content decreases the energy absorption ratio for a certain confining pressure
and fiber content. For example, for a specimen with 1% fiber and confining pressure of
50 kPa, the energy absorption ratio for the weight ratio of cement 0 and 4%
is
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1

Figure 19. Effect of relative density on energy absorption of samples with 2% cement.

respectively equal to 3.42 and 2.83. As previously stated, the tensile force is mobilized
in the fiber when the soil around the fibers is deformed. Therefore, the amount of
mobilized force in the fiber depends on the amount of soil deformation and also the
stiffness of the fiber. For uncemented specimen, before the failure, the required
deformation for completely mobilize the tensile force in the fibers is occurred.
Increasing the weight ratio of the cement decreases the failure strain, as well as the
stiffness of the soil matrix will significantly increase due to the creation of cement
bonds. As a result, the necessary deformation in the fibers is not provided order to fully
mobilize the tensile force. Therefore, because of the reduction of fiber efficiency, the
existence of fiber has less effect on the increase of shear strength compared to the unce-
mented specimen, and finally, can be expected to decrease. The evaluation of Figure 19
in terms of the effect of the confining pressure on the energy absorption ratio shows
that the increase of confining pressure reduces the energy absorption ratio. For
example, for uncemented specimen with a fiber weight ratio of 1%, the energy absorp-
tion ratio for confining pressure of 50 kPa and 500 kPa is respectively equal to 3.42
and
1.78. As previously stated, the increase in confining pressure prevents the dilation of
the soil during shear loading. As a result, the amount of dilation is higher at low con-
fining pressure. This event causes dilation, for specimen under low confining pressure,
leads to improve the interaction between soil and fiber. The level of improvement in
soil and fiber interactions during shear loading is reduced by increasing confining pres-
sure and decreasing the dilation of specimen and, as a result, the ratio of energy
absorption decreases. In other words, the fiber efficiency is high in low confining pres-
sures, and the increase in confining pressures leads to a decrease in the role of fiber in
improving the maximum and residual shear strength. Also, increasing the fiber content
due to creation of the bridge on the cracks and also the creation of an additional con-
fining pressure increases the energy absorption ratio. For example, the energy absorp-
tion ratio for specimens containing 0% cement under the confining pressure of 50
kPa for the weight ratio of the fibers of 0.5 and 1 is respectively equal to 1.94 and 3.42.
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

Table 6. Analysis of variance for the energy absorption.

Source Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean square F-Statistics p-Value
A: relative density 15153.45 1 15153.45 54.04883 <0.0001
CC: cement content 29444.57 1 29444.57 105.0219 <0.0001
CP: confining pressure 2047610 1 2047610 7303.346 <0.0001
FC: fiber content 362029 1 362029 1291.273 <0.0001
Interaction: AC 179.2933 1 179.2933 0.639498 0.4270
Interaction: AD 7437.016 1 7437.016 26.5261 <0.0001
Interaction: BC 1161.81 1 1161.81 4.143906 0.0461
Interaction: BD 6125.61 1 6125.61 21.84862 <0.0001
Interaction: CD 4527.639 1 4527.639 16.14903 0.0002

The effect of relative density on energy absorption of samples with 2% cement is

shown in Figure 19. As shown in Figure 19, for all the confining pressure and fiber
contents, increasing relative density increases the energy absorption ratio. Increasing
the relative density of the specimens leads to more locking the grains together, as well
as the more appropriate interaction of the soil grains with the fibers, thus increasing
the amount of energy necessary to creation of deformation in the specimens. This
behavior was predictable due to the results obtained in the secant stiffness section. The
evaluation of Figure 19 shows that the increase of confining pressure increases the dif-
ference in the absorbed energy of the specimens with different relative densities. For
example, the ratio of the absorbed energy of the specimen with a relative density of
80% to the absorbed energy of the specimen with a relative density of 50% with a fiber
weight ratio of 1% at confining pressure of 50 and 100 kPa is respectively equal to 1.09
and 1.19. This shows the interactions between the relative density of the specimen and
the confining pressure on the energy absorption. In other words, increasing confining
pressure has led to a greater effect on the absorption of energy. The reason for this
phenomenon can be found in a strain such as residual resistance. Consoli et al. [52]
carried out triaxial test on cement specimens with different relative densities under dif-
ferent confining pressure. They reported that, at low confining pressures, specimens
with different densities tend to equal stress in less strain. This phenomenon leads to a
decrease in the difference between the areas under the strain curves for specimens with
different densities. In this study, it was also observed that approximate homology of
deviatoric stresses for specimens with different densities occur at higher strain levels in
higher confining pressures. Therefore, it is expected that the difference in the amount
of energy absorbed in the higher densities to be more pronounced (an increase in
energy absorption ratio of denser specimen compared to the looser specimen).

Statistical analysis
Tables 6 and 7 show present a complementary analysis of variance (ANOVA) per-
formed with the experimental results obtained for the energy absorption and secant
stiffness for half shear strength, respectively. In both cases, the experimental design
resulted in a fully randomized factorial design with four control factors (relative dens-
ity, cement content, fiber content and confining pressure). the ANOVA showed that all
the controlled variables (relative density, cement content, fiber content and confining
pressure) were influential on the energy absorption and secant stiffness for half shear
strength, at a significance level less than 5% (p-values in Tables 6 and 7). Moreover, the
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1
Table 7. Analysis of variance for the secant stiffness for half shear strength.
Source Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean square F-statistics p-Value
A: relative density 15153.45 1 15153.45 54.36 <0.0001
CC: cement content 29444.57 1 29444.57 105.64 <0.0001
CP: confining pressure 2.05E þ 06 1 2.05E þ 06 7346.06 <0.0001
FC: fiber content 1 1298.83 <0.0001
3.62E þ 05 3.62E þ 05
Interaction: AC 7437.02 1 7437.02 26.68 <0.0001
Interaction: AD 1161.81 1 1161.81 4.17 0.0455
Interaction: BC 6125.61 1 6125.61 21.98 <0.0001
Interaction: BD 4527.64 1 4527.64 16.24 0.0002
Interaction: CD 88134.07 1 88134.07 316.19 <0.0001

second order interactions amongst the controlled variables were found to be statistic-
ally significant. Moreover, the magnitudes of the F-statistics showed in Tables 6 and 7
indicates that the impact of the confining pressure effect is greater when compared to
the impacts of the other controlled variables.
The relationships and interactions between the controlled variables and the energy
absorption and secant stiffness for half shear strength as obtained by the ANOVA are
given in Equation 1:

EA ¼ 18:56—38:5824 × Dr—201:382 × CC þ 395:576 × CP—2125:62 × FC þ 380:4379 × Dr × CP

þ6559:726 × Dr × FC þ 3171:51 × CC × CP þ 118949 × CC × FC þ 48119:74 × CP × FC
(1)

E50 ¼ —71:8 þ 55 × Dr—2692 × CC—66 × CP þ 26204 × FC þ 10866 × Dr × CP þ 656 × Dr × CP

—26769:2 × Dr × FC þ 12443:22 × CC × CP—501097 × CC × FC—42820:8 × CP × FC

where EA is the energy absorption; E50 is the secant stiffness for half shear strength;
Dr is the relative density, CC is the cement content, CP is the confining pressure and
FC is the fiber content. The adequacy and degree of correlation (determination) of
each response model can also be explained by the high regression coefficient (R2)
which also explains the fitness and quality of the models. The energy absorption and
secant stiffness for half shear strength have R2 values of 96.37 and 89.71%, respectively.
This shows that the models have a higher degree of correlation between the predicted
models and experimental data.

Conclusion
In this study, consolidated drained triaxial tests on sand with different amounts of
cement and fibers were performed with different relative densities under different con-
fining pressures and the behavior of this specimen was investigated from aspects of
energy absorption, tensile stiffness. The summary of the results is as follows:

1. The stiffness corresponding to 50% of the shear strength increases with the add-
ition of cement. The presence of fibers within the cement specimen reduces stiff-
ness significant (about 15–65%). On the other hand, for uncemented specimen,
adding fibers can reduce the stiffness of the specimens by 80% density, while
adding fibers increases stiffness for specimens with 50% density.
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

2. Adding cement to sand increases the secant stiffness at lower strains, but at high
strains, cement content dose not affect the secant stiffness. For specimens with
relative density of 80% and cemented samples with relative density of 50%, in
low strains, adding fibers reduces the secant stiffness. In high strains, the pres-
ence of fibers increases the secant stiffness. For uncemented specimens with rela-
tive density of 50% with relative density of 50% the addition of fibers increases
the secant stiffness at all levels of strain.
3. The distance between the yielding point and failure point increases with increas-
ing confining pressure and fiber content, but adding cement reduces this dis-
tance. In cemented specimens under low confining pressure, failure and yielding
occurs simultaneously, and in high confining pressure failure and yielding have a
distance. In uncemented specimens under low confining pressure, the yielding is
observed. However, in high confining pressure, tangent stiffness changes have a
mild decrease process from the beginning to the end of the test. The yielding
point of cemented sample depends on cement content and confining pressure.
4. The inclusion of PVA fibers to the cemented soil increases the energy absorption
(about 30–80%). The addition of cement increases the energy absorption, but the
amount of energy absorption increase is not significant (about 5–13%). For all
the confining pressure and fiber contents, increasing relative density increases the
energy absorption ratio. Moreover, the increase of confining pressure increases
the difference in the absorbed energy of the specimens with different rela-
tive densities.

Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References
[1] Da Costa A, Sagaseta C. Analysis of shallow instabilities in soil slopes reinforced with
nailed steel wire meshes. Eng Geolo. 2010;113:53–61.
[2] Choobbasti AJ, Vafaei A, Kutanaei SS. Mechanical properties of sandy soil improved
with cement and nanosilica. Open Eng. 2015;5:1–6.
[3] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Prediction of combined effects of fibers and cement on
the mechanical properties of sand using particle swarm optimization algorithm.
J Adhes Sci Technol. 2015;29:487–501.
[4] Choobbasti AJ, Tavakoli H, Kutanaei SS. Modeling and optimization of a trench layer
location around a pipeline using artificial neural networks and particle swarm optimiza-
tion algorithm. Tunn Undergr Sp. Tech. 2014;40:192–202.
[5] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Mesh-free modeling of liquefaction around a pipeline
under the influence of trench laye. Acta Geotech. 2015;10:343–355.
[6] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Effect of the fluid weight on the liquefaction potential
around a marine pipeline using CVFEM. EJGE. 2013;18:633–646.
[7] Tavakoli HR, Omran OL, Kutanaei SS, et al. Prediction of energy absorption capability
in fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete containing nano-silica particles using artifi-
cial neural network. Lat Am J Solids Struct. 2014;11:966–979.
[8] Tavakoli HR, Omran OL, Shiade MS, et al. Prediction of combined effects of fibers and
nano-silica on the mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete using artificial
neural network. Lat Am J Solids Struct. 2014;11:1906–1923.
 JOURNAL OF ADHESION SCIENCE AND 1
[9] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Experimental study of combined effects of fibers and
nanosilica on the mechanical properties of cemented sand. J Mater Civ Eng. 2016;28:
06016001.
[10] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Effects of nanosilica particles and randomly distributed
fibers on the ultrasonic pulse velocity and mechanical properties of cemented Sand. J
Mater Civ Eng. 2017;29:04016230.
[11] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ. Triaxial behavior of fiber reinforced cemented sand. J
Adhes Sci Technol. 2016;30:579–593.
[12] Tavakoli HR, Kutanaei SS. Evaluation of effect of soil characteristics on the seismic
amplification factor using the neural network and reliability concept. Arab J Geosci.
2015;8:3881–3891.
[13] Sarokolayi LK, Beitollahi A, Abdollahzadeh G, et al. Modeling of ground motion rota-
tional components for near-fault and far-fault earthquake according to soil type. Arab J
Geosci. 2015;8:3785–3797.
[14] Rezaei S, Choobbasti AJ, Kutanaei SS. Site effect assessment using microtremor meas-
urement, equivalent linear method, and artificial neural network (case study: Babol,
Iran). Arab J Geosci. 2015;8:1453–1466.
[15] Janalizadeh A, Kutanaei SS, Ghasemi E. CVFEM modeling of free convection inside an
inclined porous enclosure with a sinusoidal hot wall. Sci Iran A. 2013;20:1401–1414.
[16] Anvari SM, Shooshpasha I, Kutanaei SS. Effect of granulated rubber on shear strength
of fine-grained sand. J Roc Mech Geotec Eng. 2017;9:936–944.
[17] Bayat M, Abdollahzade GR. Analysis of the steel braced frames equipped with ADAS
devices under the far field records. Lat Am J Solids Struct. 2011;8:163–181.
[18] Bayat M, Pakar I. Accurate analytical solution for nonlinear free vibration of beams.
Struct Eng Mech. 2012;43:337–347.
[19] Choobbasti A, Kutanaei SS. Effect of fiber reinforcement on deformability properties of
cemented sand. J Adhes Sci Technol. 2017;31:1576–1590.
[20] Choobbasti AJ, Kutanaei SS. Microstructure characteristics of cement-stabilized sandy
soil using nanosilica. J Roc Mech Geotec Eng. 2017;9:981–988.
[21] Bayat M, Pakar I. On the approximate analytical solution to non-linear oscillation sys-
tems. Shock Vib. 2013;20:43–52.
[22] Bayat M, Pakar I. Nonlinear dynamics of two degree of freedom systems with linear
and nonlinear stiffnesses. Earthq Eng Eng Vib. 2013;12:411–420.
[23] Bayat M, Bayat M, Pakar I. Nonlinear vibration of an electrostatically actuated
microbeam. Lat Am J Solids Struct. 2014;11:534–544.
[24] Choobbasti AJ, Vafaei A, Kutanaei SS. Static and cyclic triaxial behavior of cemented
sand with nanosilica. J Mater Civ Eng. 2018;30:04018269.
[25] Choobbasti AJ, Farrokhzad F, Nadimi A, et al. Effects of copper sludge on cemented
clay using ultrasonic pulse454 velocity. J Adhes Sci Technol. 2109;33:S433–S444.
[26] Bayat M, Bayat M. Seismic behavior of special moment-resisting frames with energy
dissipating devices under near source ground motions. Steel Compos Struct. 2014;16:
533–557.
[27] Edalati SA, Bayat M, Pakar I, et al. A novel approximate solution for nonlinear prob-
lems of vibratory systems. Struct Eng Mech. 2016;57:1039–1049.
[28] Kutanaei SS, Ghasemi E, Bayat M, et al. Modeling of two-dimensional heat conduction
between eccentric circular cylinders. Int J Phys Sci. 2011;6:4044–4052.
[29] Kutanaei SS, Roshan N, Vosoughi A, et al. Numerical solution of stokes flow in a circu-
lar cavity using mesh-free local RBF-DQ. Eng Anal Bound Elem. 2012;36:633–638.
[30] Choobbasti AJ, Samakoosh MA, Kutanaei SS. Mechanical properties soil stabilized with
nano calcium carbonate and reinforced with carpet waste fibers. Constr Build Mate.
2019;211:1094–1104.
[31] Koutenaei RY, Choobbasti AJ, Kutanaei SS. Triaxial behavior of a cemented sand rein-
forced with Kenaf fibers. Europ J Environ Civ En. 2019;1–19. DOI: 10.1080/
19648189.2019.1574607
 1 M. GHADAKPOUR ET

[32] Choobbasti AJ, Kutanaei SS, Ghadakpour M. Shear behavior of fiber-reinforced sand
composite. Arab J Geosci. 2019;12:157.
[33] Choobbasti AJ, Kutanaei SS, Paein Afrakoti MT. Modeling of compressive strength of
cemented sandy soil. J Adhes Sci Technol. 2019;1–17. DOI: 10.1080/
01694243.2018.1548535
[34] Mashhadban H, Beitollahi A, Kutanaei SS. Identification of soil properties based on
accelerometer records and comparison with other methods. Arab J Geosci. 2016;9: 427–
525.
[35] Kutanaei SS, Choobbasti AJ, Prediction of liquefaction potential of sandy soil around a
submarine pipeline under earthquake loading. J Pipeline Syst Eng Pract. 2016;9: 427–
525.
[36] Mashhadban H, Kutanaei SS, Sayarinejad MA. Prediction and modeling of mechanical
properties in fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete using particle swarm optimiza-
tion algorithm and artificial neural network. Constr Build Mate. 2016;119:277–287.
[37] Sarokolayi LK, Kutanaei SS, Golafshani SMI, et al. Control-volume-based finite element
modelling of liquefaction around a pipeline. Geomat Nat Hazards Risk. 2016;7: 1287–
1306.
[38] Gray DH, Al-Refeai T. Behavior of fabric versus fiber reinforced sand. J Geotech Eng.
1986;112:804–820.
[39] Noorzad R, Zarinkolaei STG. Comparison of mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced
sand under triaxial compression and direct shear. Open Geosci. 2015;7:547–558.
[40] Consoli NC, Montardo JP, Donato M, et al. Effect of material properties on the behav-
iour of sand–cement–fibre composites. Proc ICE – Ground Improv. 2004;8:77–90.
[41] Ladd RS. Preparing test specimens using undercompaction. Geotech Test J. 1978;1: 16–
23.
[42] Correira AAS, Oliverira PJV, Custodio DG. Effect of polypropylene fibers on the com-
pressive and tensile strength of a soft soil, artificially stabilized with binders. Geotext
Geomembr. 2015;43:97–106.
[43] Hamidi A, Hooresfand M. Effect of fiber reinforcement on triaxial shear behavior of
cement treated sand. Geotext Geomembr. 2013;36:1–9.
[44] Haeri SM, Noorzad R, Oskoorouchi AM. Effect of geotextile reinforcement on the
mechanical behavior of sand. Geotext Geomembr. 2000;18:385–402.
[45] Pl´e O, L^e TNH. Effect of polypropylene fiber-reinforcement on the strength of
silty clay. Geotext Geomembr. 2012;32:111–116.
[46] Muntohar AS, Widianti A, Hartono E, et al. Engineering properties of silty soil stabi-
lized with lime and rice husk ash and reinforced with waste plastic fiber. J Mater Civ
Eng. 2013;25:1260–1270.
[47] Cai Y, Shi B, Ng CWW, et al. Effect of polypropylene fiber and lime admixture on
engineering properties of clayey soil. Eng Geol. 2006;87:230–240.
[48] Marri A. The mechanical behaviour of cemented granular materials at high pressures
[PhD. Thesis] Nottingham: University of Nottingham; 2010.
[49] Ahmad F, Bateni F, Azmi M. Performance evaluation of silty sand reinforced with
fibres. Geotext Geomembr. 2010;28:93–99.
[50] Cabalar AF, Karabash Z. California bearing ratio of a sub-base material modified with
tire buffings and cement addition. J Test Eval. 2014;43:1279–1287.
[51] Cabalar AF, Karabash Z, Mustafa WS. Stabilising a clay using tyre buffings and lime.
RMPD. 2014;15:872–891.
[52] Consoli NC, Vendruscolo MA, Fonini A, et al. Fiber reinforcement effects on sand con-
sidering a wide cementation range. Geotext Geomembr. 2009;27:196–203.