Mechanism of Lattice Frame Reinforcement (LFR)

System Used to Delay Settlement of Coastal Rock

Embankments
Isuru Tharanga Dias
Graduate Student, School of Civil
Engineering and Technology,
Sirindhorn International Institute of
Technology, Thammasat University,
Pathumthani, Thailand.
isurudiaz25@gmail.com
Ganchai Tanapornraweekit
Research Faculty, Construction and
Maintenance Technology Research Center,
School of Civil Engineering and Technology,
Sirindhorn International Institute of
Technology, Thammasat University,
Pathumthani, Thailand.
ganchai@siit.tu.ac.th
Somnuk Tangtermsirikul
Professor, School of Civil Engineering and
Technology,
Sirindhorn International Institute of
Technology, Thammasat University,
Pathumthani, Thailand.
somnuk@siit.tu.ac.th

Abstract— This paper presents a study of the mechanism of the
Lattice Frame Reinforcement (LFR) system to reduce the rate of
embankment settlement. The proposed LFR system consists of two
main components, polyester sheet (LFR sheet) and lattice framed
injected mortar polyester tube (LFR mortar tube). LFR system
can be applied under embankments. Both components are knitted
together before the mortar is injected into the tube. Firstly, sheet
and the empty LFR tubes are placed to cover the area to be
improved. Secondly, mortar is injected into the tubes and all the
tube ends are sealed. After the injected mortar is properly cured,
the embankment can be constructed on top of the LFR system. The
system distributes concentrated load from the embankment to
much larger area under the LFR system, which reduces vertical
soil pressure under the embankment. Providing less pressure to
the underneath soil, it results in lower soil settlement. Two
experimental embankments with LFR system were constructed in
Samut Sakhon province in Thailand. The actual soil settlements of
these embankments have been monitored for the future study.
Tensile and bending tests were conducted to understand the
behavior of the LFR material. This study aims to understand the
mechanism of the LFR system under rock embankment. LFR
mortar tubes in the system behave more likely as a tensile member.
The function of injected mortar is only to keep the LFR tubes in
shape and to provide better constructability.
Keywords— Lattice Frame Reinforcement (LFR), Soil
Settlement, Field measurement, Rock Embankment, Finite Element
Modeling.
Due to large self-weight of the rock embankment, soil
settlement is rather significant. Large self-weight cannot be
avoided since the height of the rock embankment is crucial to
keep its active status and to protect shores from sea waves. In
addition, width of the rock embankments is required to be
sufficient to maintain its stability during its lifetime. The
proposed LFR system is applied under the rock embankment to
delay and decrease settlement with time which is beneficial for
shoreline protection by expanding its active lifetime.
Soil settlement is one of the main problems for coastal
embankment. The sinking of embankment due to soil
settlement may cause the embankment not to function
efficiently. There are two types of soil settlement: immediate
and long-term settlements. Immediate settlement usually last
for the first few days and long-term settlement could last for
years.[1]
In most recent studies, a system referred as Lattice-
Frame Reinforcement (LFR) system which is mainly applied to
reduce soil settlement has grasped attention from construction
industry [2].

I. INTRODUCTION

Rock embankment is generally embankment

constructed from rocks and boulders to delay coastal erosion
because of radical sea waves (see Fig. 1). Shores are generally
washed away and damaged because of continuously sea wave
strikes. Rock embankments are playing an important role to
protect the shores. Rock embankment behaves as a barrier and
faces to sea waves before the waves approach the shores. After
strike on embankment, the coming waves become weaker and
consequently result in less damage to the shores.
Fig. 1. Example of rock embankment [photo from Ashimori Industry
Co., Ltd]
 Fig. 2. Application of LFR system under the coastal rock embankment
Fig. 3. Proposed component of LFR system
Fig. 4. LFR mortar tube spacing
Generally, LFR system can be applied under
embankment (see Fig. 2). The LFR system is a combination of
polyester sheet and mortar-injected polyester tubes arranged
into a manner of lattice orientation (see Fig. 3). However, the
effect of the LFR system with embankment has not been well
studied for long term soil settlement. In this study, two different
arrangements of LFR tubes are introduced, i.e. 1m x 1m and 2m
x 2m spacing in between tubes (see Fig. 4).
Main components of LFR system are LFR mortar tube
and LFR underlying sheet. Sheet and tubes are knitted together,
and tubes are jointed in lattice arrangement. In this study, the
LFR mortar tube is 100 mm in diameter (see Fig. 5). Material
for LFR sheet and LFR tube is polyester sheet which is 0.7 mm
in thickness. The density of this polyester is 1046 kg/m3.
Texture of the LFR sheet is shown in Fig. 6. Combination of
sheet and mortar injected tubes reduces soil pressure
underneath caused by self-weight of embankment. LFR system
distributes load from the embankment to a much larger area of
underneath soil. This effect is called as load dispersion effect.
Fig. 5. Cross section of LFR mortar tube
Fig. 6. LFR sheet texture
This study provides information about mechanism of
LFR system to reduce long term soil settlement under
embankment. The objective of this study is to investigate
material characteristics and the mechanism of the LFR system
and its applicability to protect seashores by maintaining the
level of embankment for a longer active life span.
Applicability of the LFR system has been investigated
on several occasions. Okamoto M. studied behavior of LFR
system underneath a railway structure. LFR system was applied
to a real scale field test which was carried out on a soft ground
comprising clayey sand. This soil did not meet the requirement
of subgrade according to Japanese standard (Railway technical
research institute 1992) for railway structures [3]. The required
satisfactory K30 value is 34.5 MN/m2. Before the application of
LFR system, it was noted that K30 value of the original soil was
21.2 MN/m2 which was lower than the requirement. To
evaluate the improvement of soil after LFR system was applied,
the plate load test was again conducted. The K30 of the soil with
LFR system was 67.1 MN/m2 which satisfied the requirement
of railway road construction [4]. Yoshida, T et al. investigated
the behavior of LFR system against differential soil settlement.
A load test was performed for the soil site with LFR system.
Their study confirmed that the differential settlement against a
locally concentrated vertical load was much less after applying
the lattice frame system [5]. Okamoto M. performed a series of
dynamic centrifugal model tests. The results showed that LFR
system could reduce differential settlement of soil that
undergoes seismic liquefaction. The system effectively reduced
deformation of the liquefiable layer of the case in which the
improved zone was totally set under the embankment [2].
 Although several studies have been conducted,
mechanism of LFR system has not been clearly investigated.
Moreover, there is no study on the long-term settlement
behavior of the soil after applying the LFR system. There are
several parameters of the LFR system which should be
considered in the design of the system, i.e. area of the LFR
system, diameter of LFR mortar tube, LFR tube spacing, and
effect of injected mortar on the efficiency of the system.

Behavior of soil settlement can be considered to

identify the effectiveness of the LFR system. Spacing of LFR
tubes could be a major parameter in this regard. The most
effective spacing arrangement to reduce soil settlement can be
considered as a parameter to optimize the proper configuration
of the LFR system. For this reason, two types of data will be
considered and compared in the future study, i.e. field data and
finite element (FE) analysis results.

II. METHODOLOGY

Monitoring the real settlement of the experimental

sites of LFR system has been performed in order to study the
performance of the LFR system as well as the effects of the LFR
tube spacing. One of the seashore areas of Samut Sakhon
province, Thailand was selected as the site location used to
monitor the settlement of the embankment with LFR system in
this study. The site is about 50 km away from Bangkok,
Thailand. There are two rock embankments where each of them
is 100 m apart (see Fig. 7). These two embankments have
different LFR tube spacings which are 1m x 1m and 2m x 2m.
Currently, field measurements have been monitored on these
two embankments.
Fig. 8. Soil profile of the experimental site [7]
In order to investigate the effectiveness of the LFR
system, it is necessary to monitor the long-term settlement for
a certain period. A brief measurement process of soil settlement
is as follows. Two stations were used to measure the level of
the embankment with LFR system sites (see Fig. 9). Station 3
is the transfer station from the benchmark reference. TP 3 and
TP 4 are used to transfer the level from station 3 to station 4.
From station 4, levels of the embankments are recorded. The
level of each embankment is averaged from levels at five
locations on the embankment which are at the center and -

Fig. 7. Experimental rock embankments [photos from Ashimori

Industry Co., Ltd]

A. Soil testing data and filed monitoring of soil settlement

There are different types of soils existing along seashores of

Thailand. Clay, silty and sandy soils are highlighted among
them [6]. Soil samples were collected from the site. Laboratory
tests such as, consolidation test, unconsolidated undrained tri-
axial test, and vane shear test were conducted. According to soil Fig. 9. Process of recording field soil settlement
testing, several soil layers were identified. These soil layers can
be categorized as clay, silty clay, and silty fine sand to medium four corners of the embankment. The levels of the
sand as shown in Fig. 8. embankments were recorded once a week in the first month
after finishing the construction of the embankment with LFR
system. The measurement was conducted once a month in the
1st year after construction. In the 2nd and 3rd year of the
monitoring, the measurement was once every two months and
three months, respectively. Currently, the measurement is in the
beginning of the 4th year after the construction. The
measurement will be conducted twice a year in this phase.
B. Tests of materials for the LFR system
There were two main components in the LFR system,
LFR mortar tubes and LFR sheet. Two laboratory tests were
conducted to determine the material properties of each
component. These laboratory tests were the tensile test (ASTM
D3039) [8] of the LFR sheet and the flexural test (ASTM D790)
[9] of LFR mortar tube.
Four specimens were prepared for tensile test and the
tests were conducted using Universal Testing Machine (model
Testometric M500-50AT). Tensioning speed of 2mm/min was
used for the test. Test setup is shown in Fig. 10.
Flexural tests were conducted on five LFR mortar
tube specimens. An LVDT used to measure deflection of the
specimen was installed at the mid span under the bottom side
of the specimen. One single point load was applied at the
midspan as shown in Fig. 11.
(a) (b)
Fig. 10. Tensile test of LFR sheet (a) sheet specimens (b) tensile test setup
Fig. 11. Flexural test setup
III. TEST RESULTS
Stress strain data was collected from the tensile tests.
There were two noticeable slopes in the stress-strain curves of
all specimens. First (initial) slope was caused due to initial
stretch of the sheet (see Fig. 12). After the sheet was stretched
to a stress about 50 MPa, curve showed a higher second slope
which means the LFR sheet resists tension more effectively
after initial stretching of the sheet. The failure of the tensile test
specimens is shown in Fig. 13. Table 1 shows the summary of
properties of LFR sheet resulted from the tensile tests.
Fig. 12. Stress-strain relationship of the tensile test for sheet specimens
Fig. 13. Failure of the LFR sheet specimens
TABEL I. MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF LFR SHEET
Young's modulus (MPa) during initial stretch 474.36
after initial stretch 807.95
Ultimate stress (MPa) 156.9
Ultimate strain 0.23
Flexural behavior of LFR mortar tube was studied
using three-point bending test. Results showed a high initial
stiffness up to the average load of 7.79 kN. This initial stiffness
is the stiffness of the composite material which consists of LFR
tube and uncracked injected mortar. After this load level,
mortar broke, which can be observed from a sudden load drop
as shown in Fig. 14. Eventually, the LFR tube continually
resisted the loads after breaking of the mortar until fiber
breakage at the bottom side of the specimen. The test results
showed that the specimens failed from breakage of the LFR
tube at the average peak load of 14.09 kN. The bending test
specimen at failure is shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 14 Load-mid span deflection curves of LFR mortar tubes
Fig. 15. Breakage of the LFR tube resulted from bending test
IV. DISCUSSION
In order to understand the mechanism of the LFR
system, a preliminary FE analysis was performed. The material
properties of LFR sheet and LFR mortar tube are from the test
results presented in the previous section.
The analysis results indicated that the embankment
settles down with almost the same settlement over its large area.
This behavior results in small curvature in the LFR tubes as
shown in Fig 16.
Small curvature of
the LFR tubes
Fig. 16. Deformed shaped of the LFR system under the embankment (5x
magnification) after 900 days of construction
This implies that the LFR tube behave more as a
tensile member instead of bending member. Based on the
results of this preliminary FE analysis, the mechanism of LFR
system can be explained as follows.
1. Each LFR tube behaves like a tensile member rather than a
bending member. This is due to a small curvature of the tube
when it is loaded from the self-weight of rock embankment.
2. When LFR tube behaves as a tensile member, the function of
injected mortar is only to maintain the circular shape of the
tubes and to maintain the stretched nature of the tubes. In
addition, self-weight of mortar makes the LFR system stands
still as much as possible during the construction which results
in a better constructability.
3. LFR tubes and underlaying LFR sheet are knitted together
where they are not allowed to separate. The vertical load from
self-weight of the embankment will be transferred horizontally
to the LFR tubes and sheet via friction between sheet and
underneath soil. It is noted that the sheet and tubes will resist
tension when the sheet and tubes are in stretch condition where
this condition can be maintained via interlockings between
rock-rock and rock-tube and sheet.
In the future study, a FEM model without LFR system
will be verified with a selected literature from a previous study.
The behavior of the LFR system will be simulated in detail
using FE analysis. Soil settlement values obtained from field
measurement and FEA data of the soil settlement will be
compared to verify the mechanism of LFR system. In addition,
the verified model can be further extended to perform
parametric studies of the LFR system in order to investigate
effects of diameter of mortar tube, grade of mortar, arrangement
of LFR tube and size of embankment.
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS
This study aims to understand the mechanism of LFR
system under rock embankments. The evaluation of the FEM
will be carried out in term of total long-term settlement of the
soil underneath LFR system. LFR mortar tubes in the system
behave more likely as a tensile member. The function of
injected mortar is only to keep the LFR tubes in shape and to
provide better constructability. The sheet and tube resists
tension when the material is in stretch condition where this
condition can be maintained via interlockings between rock-
rock and rock-tube and sheet. Future study will be carried out
to confirm in this regard considering different parameters such
as, diameters of mortar tube, grades of mortar, arrangements of
LFR tube and sizes of embankment.
AKNOWLEDGMENTS
The first author would like to express his appreciation
and gratitude to the Excellent Foreign Student (EFS)
Scholarship and the TU Scholarship for Foreign Students for the
opportunity to pursue his Master degree at Sirindhorn
International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat
University, Thailand. Special gratitude goes to Teijin Limited to
provide funding for this research project and Ashimori Industry
Co., Ltd. to facilitate necessary testing materials, photos, and
access to the experimental site. This study is also supported by
the Center of Excellence in Material Science, Construction and
Maintenance Technology Project, Thammasat University and
National Science and Technology Development Agency
(NSTDA) Chair Professor Grant.
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