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Static and Dynamic Characterization of Soil in a Reinforced Earth Wall

Conference Paper · July 2013

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Static and dynamic characterization of soil in a reinforced
earth wall

Piera Paola Capilleri, Valeria Mare, Michele Maugeri

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale. Viale Andrea Doria 6, 95125 Catania.
Antonio Cavallaro
CNR-IBAM. Via Biblioteca 4, 95124 Catania.

Keywords: dry density, resonant column, shear modulus, damping ratio

ABSTRACT
Reinforced earth walls are cost effective soil-retaining structures, that can tolerate much larger settlements than
reinforced concrete walls. By placing tensile reinforcing elements (inclusions) in the soil, the strength of the soil
can be improved significantly, allowing to build safely, even in a severe seismic areas, high steep slopes and wall
with vertical facing. In spite of a very development technology to build reinforced wall, of soil to fill the back on
the wall is some time very poor. The paper presents the geotechnical characterization of two kinds of sandy soils
taken from the backfill of a reinforced earth wall, build as a prototype in Brazil.
To define the mechanical behaviour of Brazil sand a large number of static and dynamic laboratory tests were
performed on dry reconstituted specimens.
The static tests include direct shear tests performed on specimens reconstituted by the pluvial deposition method
with different relative densities Dr. For the dynamic characterization resonant column tests were performed, to
evaluate the equivalent shear modulus Geq and damping ratio D. The soil non linearity due the decreasing of shear
modulus and the increasing of damping ratio with shear strain was evaluated.
An accurate static and dynamic geotechnical characterisation of the backfill is required to perform the analytical
modelling to predict the mechanical behaviour of the reinforced wall.

retained soil refers to the material, placed or in-

1 INTRODUCTION
Mechanically stabilized earth systems have
three major components: reinforcing elements,
facing systems, and reinforced fill.
Reinforcing elements may be classified by
stress/strain behavior and geometry. In terms of
stress/strain behavior, reinforcing elements may
be considered inextensible (metallic) or
extensible (polymeric). However, certain metallic
woven wire mesh reinforcements, such as
hexagon gabion material, have a structure that
will deform more than the soil at failure and are
thus considered extensible. Based on their
geometric shapes, reinforcements can be
categorized as strips, grids or sheets.
Facing elements, when employed, can be
precast concrete panels or modular blocks,
gabions, welded wire mesh, cast-in-place
concrete, timber, shotcrete, vegetation, or
geosynthetic material.
Reinforced fill refers to the soil material
placed within the zone of reinforcement. The
situ, directly adjacent to the reinforced fill zone.
The retained soil is the source of earth pressures
that the reinforced zone must resist. A drainage
system below and behind the reinforced fill is
also an important component, especially when
using poorly draining backfill.
The compaction requirements of reinforced fill
are different in close proximity to the wall facing.
A recent NCHRP research study on selecting
reinforced fill materials for retaining walls has
confirmed that it is safe to use reinforced fill that
passes a No. 200 (0.75 mm) sieve 35 %, provided
the properties of the materials are well defined
and controls are established to address the design
issues. These include drainage corrosion,
deformations, reinforcement pullout,
constructability, and performance expectations.
While there may be significant savings in using
lower quality reinforced fill, the effect on
performance must be carefully evaluated.
The aim of this paper is to present an accurate
static and dynamic geotechnical characterization
of sands, used to fill a reinforced wall in Brazil,
 which will lead to an analytical modelling of the B Gravel Sand Silt Clay
mechanical behaviour. G M S G M S
100
Static and dynamic laboratory tests were
BRA-2
performed for geotechnical characterization of the 90
BRA-4

fill. By means of a direct shear test the shear 80

strength parameter ϕ was evaluated, paying 70

Percent finer by weight (%)

attention to its relationship with relative density 60

Dr. On the other hand, the dynamic 50

characterization were determined using the 40

resonant column apparatus. 30

20

2 SOIL TESTED 10

0
Tests were performed on samples of sand from 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001
Diameter (mm)
Brazil, called BRA-1, BRA-2, BRA-3, BRA-4.
The particle size distribution curve, obtained
Figure 2. Grading curve for tested BRA-2 and BRA-4
by means of the ASTM method for particle size samples.
analysis, was performed by a series of sieves and
it is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
The average particle size (D50) varies from The specific gravity of soil solid range,
0.60 mm to 1.00 m, respectively for BRA-2 and determined with the ASTM standard test method
BRA-4. The uniformity coefficient (Cu), defined (D 854), varies from Gs = 2.70 to 2.74.
as the ratio of D60 to D10, varies in the range of Table 1 and Table 2 summarize the
5.00-7.69 and it points out the considerable non geotechnical characteristics described above.
homogeneity of the particle size. Instead
curvature coefficient, defined by Equation 1,
varies in the range of 0.79-1.25. Table 1. Geotechnical characteristics.

Cc =
(D30 )2 Sample D60 (mm) D50(mm) D30(mm) D10(mm)
(1) BRA-1 1.40 0.90 0.58 0.25
D10 ⋅ D60
BRA-2 1.00 0.60 0.32 0.13
where D10 D30 D50 D60 are the particles diameter BRA-3 1.40 0.78 0.58 0.25
respectively related to 10%, 30%, 50 % and 60%
BRA-4 1.00 1.00 0.50 0.20
of passing.

Table 2. Geotechnical characteristics.

B Gravel Sand Silt Clay Sample Cu Cc Gs
G M S G M S
100
BRA-1 5.60 0.96 2.70
90
BRA-1 BRA-2 7.69 0.79 2.74
BRA-3
80 BRA-3 5.60 0.96 2.72
70 BRA-4 5.00 1.25 2.72
Percent finer by weight (%)

60

50 In addition some geological laboratory test

40 were carried out. Mineralogical composition
30
(Davis and Walawender, 1982) with x-ray
20
diffractometry (Salt, 1985) was performed. The
results are shown in Table 3 and Table 4.
10
Figure 3 shows the diffractogram curve for
0
100 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 sample BRA-4.
Diameter (mm)

Figure 1. Grading curve for tested BRA-1 and BRA-3

samples.
Table 3. Mineralogical composition. The specimens were reconstituted by means of
Sample Quartz Feldspars kaolinite the pluvial deposition procedure, developed by
Lo Presti et al. (1992). This method allows
BRA-1 87 2 traces
obtaining fixed beforehand values of relative
BRA-2 26 10 11 density, to reach a satisfying uniformity of the
BRA-3 84 2 traces samples and to reduce the degree of trouble.
BRA-4 25 8 11 The sand is put into a container, supported by
a trolley sliding along one direction. On the base
of this container, the sand falls through a slit. The
Table 4. Mineralogical composition.
deposition is realized getting to swing the support
Sample illite chlorite amphibole at constant velocity while the slit is open. It is
BRA-1 5 5 / possible to reconstitute samples with different
BRA-2 13 41 / relative density by placing the container at
different height on the trolley, because relative
BRA-3 5 8 /
density is correlated with the fall height of sand.
BRA-4 13 43 / On the basis of the experimental results it was
possible to obtain the following empirical
correlation between Dr and height of deposition
hd (Equation 2 and Figure 4):
Dr [%] = 1.833 ⋅ hd [cm] − 52.55 (2)

Table 5. Test condition for direct shear tests.

Sample Dr (%) σv (kPa) σv (kPa) σv (kPa)

BRA-1_dr1 24 100 200 300

BRA-1_dr2 49 100 200 300

BRA-1_dr3 98 100 200 300

Figure 3.Diffractogram curve for BRA-4 sample. BRA-2_dr1 25 100 200 300

BRA-2_dr2 50 100 200 300

The maximum dry density was evaluated using
a vibrating table, available at the geotechnical BRA-2_dr3 98 100 200 300
laboratory of the University of Messina,
BRA-4_dr1 25 100 200 300
according to ASTM (4253-83) standard.
The maximum dry density value is about γmax BRA-4_dr2 50 100 200 300
= 16.47 kN/m3 for BRA-2 and BRA-4, while
γmax= 17.50 kN/m3 for BRA-1 and BRA-3. On the BRA-4_dr3 98 100 200 300
contrary, minimum dry density was determined
according to ASTM (4254-83) method and its
value is γmin = 12.08 kN/m3 for BRA-2 and BRA- 110
BRA-1
4, while γmin = 14.61 kN/m3 for BRA-1 and BRA- BRA-2
90
3. BRA-4

70
Dr (%)

3 DIRECT SHEAR TESTS

50
The tests were performed using standard
Casagrande box (6x6x2 cm). 30
Numerous direct shear tests were performed in
such a way to determine the angles of shearing 10
resistance in function of different relative density. 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
In this phase the tests of BRA-3 sample were not hd (cm)
performed (Table 5). In each test, at least three
samples were used to draw the shear envelope to
Figure 4. Relative density vs height of deposition.
check for test error or sample anomalies.
 After preparing the sample, a constant vertical
37
load was applied for a time of fifteen minutes.
During this period, both upper and lower frames 36
are strictly connected by means of four screws. 35
The vertical stresses adopted (100 kPa, 200 kPa,
300 kPa) are maintained constant during the 34
whole test time. After the rest period of fifteen 33

φ (°)
minutes the screws are taken away and when
32
finished the consolidation phase an electric motor
produces the shear stress along the sliding 31
surface. The advancement velocity adopted for 30
BRA-1
tests on this sand is equal to 0.025 mm/min. BRA-4
Table 6 summarizes experimental results by 29
direct shear tests. From this table is possible to 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
see that the sand soil BRA-1 is characterised by Dr (%)
average shear resistance angle ϕ = 31°; the sand
with gravel soil BRA-2 is characterised by Figure 5.Shear resistance angle vs relative density for
average shear resistance angle ϕ = 30°, while the BRA-4 sample.
sand with gravel soil BRA-4 is characterised by
average shear resistance angle ϕ = 35°. Because
250 1

Normalised shear stress τ/σ

the test were performed on disturbed samples the 2
Shear stress (kN/m )
200 0.8

shear angle values are depending on relative 150 0.6

density which will be raised after the compaction
on the wall backfill. 100 0.4

50 98.07 kPa 0.2 98.07 kPa

Table 6. Shear resistance angle vs relative density. 196.13 kPa
294.20 kPa
196.13 kPa
294.20 kPa
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8
Sample Dr (%) φ (◦) sh(mm) sh(mm)
400 2

Normal relative displacement (mm)

BRA-1_dr1 24 29.70 1.6
Shear stress (kN/m 2)

300

BRA-1_dr2 49 32.49 1.2

98.07 kPa
200
h

196.13 kPa
BRA-1_dr3 98 34.61 0.8 294.20 kPa

100
BRA-2_dr1 25 26.08 0.4

0 0
BRA-2_dr2 50 30.65 0 100 200 300 400 0 2 4 6 8
σ'[kN/m2] sh(mm)
BRA-2_dr3 98 33.25 Figure 6. Results by direct shear tests for BRA-4 sample
(Dr=24%).
BRA-4_dr1 25 32.97

BRA-4_dr2 50 34.45
4 RESONANT COLUMN TESTS
BRA-4_dr3 98 36.36
The equivalent shear modulus Geq and
damping ratio D were determined in the
On the basis of the experimental results, it was laboratory by means of a Resonant Column test
possible to obtain the following empirical (RCT) performed by means of a GDS Resonant
correlation between ϕ and Dr for sample BRA-4 Column Apparatus (RCA) (Cascante et al., 1998)
(Equation 3 and Figure 5): (Figure 7). This apparatus was supplied at the
Geotechnical Laboratory of the Department of
ϕ[ o ] = 0.045 ⋅ Dr [%] + 31.96 (3) Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of
Figure 6 shows experimental results by direct Engineering of Catania.
shear tests for sample BRA-4 (Dr=24%).
 A Resonant Column test consists to excite one
end of a confined solid or hollow cylindrical soil
specimen. The specimen is fixed at the bottom
(fixed-free test) and it is excited in torsion or
flexure at the top by means of an electromagnetic
drive system. Once the fundamental resonant
frequency is established from measuring the
motion of the free end, the velocity of the
propagating wave and the degree of material
damping are derived. The shear modulus is then
obtained from the derived velocity Vs (in case of
torsion) and the density ρ of the sample.
The equivalent shear modulus Geq is the
unload-reload shear modulus that is evaluated
from RCT in function of velocity Vs and density
ρ of the sample , while Go is the maximum value
or also "plateau" value as observed in the G-
log(γ) plot.
Generally G is constant until a certain strain
limit is exceeded. This limit is called elastic
threshold shear strain (γte) and it is believed that
soils behave elastically at strains smaller than γte.
The elastic stiffness at γ < γte is thus the already
defined as Go .
Damping ratio D is defined by Equation 2:
∆W
D= (4)
4πW
where ΔW is the area enclosed by the unloading-
reloading loop and represents the total energy
loss during the cycle and W is the elastic stored
energy.
For RCT the damping ratio is determined using
two different procedures: following the steady-
state method, the damping ratio was obtained
during the resonance condition of the sample;
following the amplitude decay method it was
obtained during the decrement of free vibration
(Cavallaro, 2001).
The GDS apparatus used is a fixed-free
resonant column apparatus (Hall and Richart,
1963). It enables the specimen consolidation
under both isotropic and anisotropic stresses. It is
composed of a drive system, a support system,
and a base plate. The solid or hallow cylinder
specimen is fixed at the bottom and its constraint
at the base is due to the friction existing between
the specimen and the porous synthesized bronze
stone (Drnevich et al.,1978).
Torsional forces are applied at the top by
means the drive system, realized in aluminium. It
is an electrical motor constituted of four magnets
connected with the top of the sample and eight
coils placed on the inox steel annular base, which
Figure 7. GDS Resonant Column Apparatus
is strictly linked to the support system. The
weight of the motor is counterbalanced by a
spring. A programmable function generator
(PGF) excites the electrical motor of Stokes.
The support system, in addition to permits the
placement of the drive system, may possibly put
the proximity transducers in and the filling in of
water for saturated specimen tests.
It is realized a plexiglass cell pressure, to
permit the isotropic consolidation using an air
pressure source controlled with a manual pressure
regulator. The base and the top plates are
connected by three vertical rod inside the cell.
In the present work solid cylindrical specimens
were reconstituted by using tapping (Drnevich et
al., 1978), in order to obtain the required relative
and a good uniformity during the deposition.
The mold is assembled and a little depression
is applied to let the membrane adhere to the
inside surfaces. The material is placed in the
mold using a funnel-pouring device. The soil is
placed as loosely as possible in the mold by
leaving the soil from the spout in a steady stream,
holding the pouring device upright and vertical,
and maintaining constant the fall height. It is
possible to obtain different values of relative
density changing the height of deposition. In
order to realize high values of relative density; it
could be necessary to beat delicately the mold
surface during the deposition. Each sample was
reconstituted with fresh sand.
Each specimen was subjected to an isotropic
load achieved in a plexiglass pressure cell, using
an air pressure source.
The axial strain was measured by using a high-
resolution proximity transducer, which monitors
the aluminum top-cap displacement. Shear strain
was measured by monitoring the top rotation with
a couple of high-resolution proximity transducers.
During a resonant column test, the proximity
transducers are not able to appraise the value of
the targets displacements, because of the high
frequency of the oscillations. Then rotation on the
top of the specimen is measured by means of an
accelerometer.
The laboratory test conditions and the obtained
small strain shear modulus Go are listed in Table
7. The dry reconstituted specimens were
isotropically submitted to a confining stress to
simulate the real pressure conditions. The size of Figure 9. G/G0-g curves from RCT.
solid cylindrical specimens are Diameter = 50
mm and Height = 100 mm. modulus; γ = shear strain; α, β = soil constants.
The experimental data for the samples Equation 3 allows to consider the complete
analized, have been found. shear modulus degradation with strain level. The
In particular Figure 8 shows the G-γ curves values of α = 26 and β = 1.2 were obtained for
for BRA-4 for different confining pressure BRA-4 sample.
applied values, while Figure 9 shows the results The damping ratio values obtained from RCT
of RCT normalised by dividing the shear for BRA-4 for different confining pressure
modulus G(γ ) for the initial value Go at very low applied are shown in Figure 10.
strain.

Table 7. Test condition for resonant column tests.

Sample Dr (%) σv (kPa) Go (MPa)

BRA-4_rc1 95 100 59

BRA-4_rc2 95 150 80

BRA-4_rc3 95 200 112

BRA-4_rc4 95 250 150

Figure 10. D-γ curves from RCT.

Figure 8 and Figure 10 show that the variation

Figure 8. G-g curves from RCT.
The experimental results of specimens were
used to determine the empirical parameters of the
Equation 3 proposed by Yokota et al. (1981) to
describe the shear modulus decay with shear
strain level:
G (γ ) 1 and λ = 1.75 were obtained for BRA-4 sample.
= (3)
Go 1 + α (%) β
in which: G(γ) = strain dependent shear
of the shear modulus values with shear strain is
more sensitive to confining pressure applied than
damping ratio values.
As suggested by Yokota et al. (1981), the
inverse variation of damping ratio with respect to
the normalised shear modulus has an exponential
form defined by Equation 4.
 G(λ ) 
D(γ )(%) = η ⋅ exp− λ ⋅  (4)
Go 

in which: D(g) = strain dependent damping ratio;
γ = shear strain; η, λ = soil constants.
The experimental results of specimens (Figure
11) were used to determine the empirical
parameters of equation 4. The values of η = 4.5

Figure 11. D-G/Go curves from RCT.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a geotechnical characterization of
two kinds of sandy soil taken from the backfill of
a reinforced earth wall, build as a prototype in
Brazil, has been presented.
In particular static and dynamic laboratory
tests were performed for geotechnical
characterization of the fill material. By means of
a direct shear test the shear strength parameter ϕ
was computed, paying attention to its relationship
with relative density Dr (%). On the other hand,
the dynamic characterization were determined
using the resonant column apparatus.
Particle size analysis shows that the sand
samples from Brazil are suitable to be used as the
material constituting an embankment reinforced
according to the classification CNR UNI
10006/1963.
The mineralogical analysis shows that BRA-1
and BRA-3 samples, have a greater presence of
quartz, while BRA-2 and BRA- 4 samples have a
mineralogical composition varied.
On the basis of pluvial deposition procedure
and direct shear tests results empirical
correlations between Dr and Hd and between ϕ
and Dr are proposed.
Available data from resonant column test
enabled one to define the small strain shear
modulus Go trend and empirical equations that
are used to describe the G and D variation with
strain level.
On the basis of the experimental results
obtained, it is possible to draw the following
conclusions:
- the Go values increase with increasing the
confining pressure and indicate moderate
influence of strain rate at very small strain level
where the soil behaviour is supposed to be elastic;
- it is possible to assume the elastic threshold
shear strain γte at a value of γ = 5∙10-4%;
- the evaluation of the non-linear behaviour of
the soil in terms of decay of the shear modulus
and increase the damping ratio with increasing
strain level assumes particular importance.
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank, Prof. P. Mazzoleni for
mineralogical characterization and Researcher E.
Cascone and Researcher G. Biondi for allowing the
evaluation of the maximum and minimum dry
density.
Finally the authors wish to thank also, the Officine
Maccaferri Spa, for financial support.
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