Geotextile reinforced embankment

GEOTEXTILE REINFORCED EMBANKMENT

Geotextile reinforced embankment
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

INTRODUCTION
The construction of an embankment on soft soil is simulated by means of a staged construction
analysis in Plaxis. The embankment is reinforced by means of a geotextile. The use of undrained
behaviour and the generation of pore pressures is reviewed in this exercise. The embankment safety
factor is analysed and the embankment is modelled without geotextile in order to determine the
increase in safety factor due to the geotextile. For the purpose of this exercise it is assumed that the
student has prior experience in using Plaxis.

AIMS

• Application of geogrid element.

• Simulation of embankment construction in stages.
• Review of undrained behaviour and pore pressures.
• Determination of stability.

In 1979 a test embankment was constructed in the Netherlands near the town of Almere. The objective
of this test was to measure the influence of geotextile reinforcement on the short term stability of an
embankment on soft soil. Two test embankments were constructed on top of a layer, one with and one
without geotextile. The construction procedure was such that a ditch was excavated in the clay layer
while at the same time a retaining bank was made with the excavated clay. A cross-section of the
reinforced test embankment is given in Figure 1.

line of symmetry

geotextile
ditch retaining bank
1
sand fill 2

2
soft clay
1,5
strong sand layer

1 3.5 3.5 1 3 14 7

model width approx. 33 m

Figure 1: Cross-section of the reinforced embankment.

 Geotextile reinforced embankment

SCHEME OF OPERATIONS:

GEOMETRY INPUT

• Start a new project

• Enter general settings
• Enter geometry + enter geotextile
• Enter fixities
• Enter material properties for soil and geotextile
• Mesh generation + refine line

INITIAL CONDITION

• Pore pressure generation

• Initial geometry configuration
• Generation of initial stresses

CALCULATIONS

• Switch on geotextile, excavate ditch + raise retaining embankment

• Apply first hydraulic fill
• Apply second hydraulic fill

INSPECT OUTPUT

SAFETY FACTOR ANALYSES FOR REINFORCED SITUATION

ANALYSIS OF NON-REINFORCED EMBANKMENT

 Geotextile reinforced embankment

GEOMETRY INPUT
START A NEW PROJECT & ENTER GENERAL SETTINGS

Start a new project and select appropriate General settings. Use 15-node elements as the basic element
type since in this exercise we will deal with failure behaviour.

GEOMETRY INPUT - GEOMETRY, BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

(12,
(9.5, 5.5)
(8, 5.5) (33,
(33,
(4.5, 3.5) (12, (26,
(0, 3.5) (33,

(0, 1.5)
(1, 1.5)
(0, 0) (33, 0)

Figure 2: Geometry model with coordinates.

Geometry

• Enter the geometry as indicated in the previous graph. The order in which geometry points are
created is arbitrary.
• Click the Geogrid button to introduce the geotextile (from (4.5, 3.5) to (26.0, 3.5)).
• Click the standard fixities button for the standard boundary conditions.
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

GEOMETRY INPUT - MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Table 1: Soil parameters.

Parameter Symbol Clay Retaining bank Hydraulic fill Unit
Material model Model Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb -
Type of behaviour Type Undrained Drained Drained -
Dry weight γunsat 13.5 13.5 18.0 kN/m3
Wet weight γsat 13.5 13.5 18.0 kN/m3
Permeability x-dir. kx 1.0E-3 1.0 1.0 m/d
Permeability y-dir. ky 1.0E-3 1.0 1.0 m/d
Young's modulus E50 2667.0 2667.0 4000.0 kN/m2
Poisson's ratio ν 0.333 0.333 0.333 -
Cohesion C 10.0 5.0 3.0 kN/m2
Friction angle ϕ 0.0 20.0 30.0 °
Dilatancy angle ψ 0.0 0.0 0.0 °

Soil and interfaces

• Enter the material properties for the three soil data sets, as indicated in Table 1.
• After entering all properties for the three soil types, drag and drop the properties to the appropriate
clusters, as indicated in Figure 3.

Retaining
Clay Hydraulic fill Geotextile

Clay

Figure 3: Geometry model showing the soil material sets.

Geotextile

• In the project database select the data type Geogrids and enter 2500 kN/m as stiffness. Note that
this is the stiffness in extension. In compression no stiffness is used.
• Drag the geogrid data set to the geotextile in the geometry and drop it there. The geotextile should
flash red once, indicating the properties have been set.

GEOMETRY INPUT - MESH GENERATION

• Click on the mesh generator button, which will present the following FE mesh composed of 15-
node elements.
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

Figure 4: Coarse generated mesh.

• Select the geotextile (this consists of two lines, see also hint) and press Refine line from the Mesh
menu. This will result in a refinement around the selected line as presented in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Mesh with local refinement.

Hint: In order to select multiple items of the same type, press the <Shift> key on the keyboard
until all desired elements are selected.
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

INITIAL CONDITION
PORE PRESSURES, INITIAL GEOMETRY & INITIAL STRESSES

Pore pressure generation

• Enter a phreatic level by two coordinates (0, 3.5) and (33, 3.5). Click on the Generate water
pressure button to generate the pore pressures.

Initial geometry configuration

• Deselect all material clusters and geotextile elements that are not present at the start of the
analysis. As we want to model the entire construction sequence from the beginning, switch off:
• Geotextile elements;
• Material clusters for the hydraulic fill;
• Material cluster for retaining bank
• Click on the Generate initial stresses button and enter a K0-value for the Clay clusters of 0.5. By
default, Plaxis proposes K0-values that are calculated from the relation: 1-sinφ. This results in a
default value of 1.0 for the clay layer(φ = 0). As we have used the undrained shear strength no
input value for φ is used. But as suggested in the introduction of this exercise we should enter the
K0-value calculated from another relation:

ν
= ≈ 0.5
nc
K0
(1 − ν )

Hint: After changing the default values of K0 the default values can be re-obtained by entering a
negative value for K0. This will trigger PLAXIS to recalculate the K0-value from the relation:
1-sinφ.

CALCULATIONS
In the calculations list three phases are needed. Each calculation phase is a Plastic calculation. For
each calculation phase the loading type Staged construction is selected, other settings are taken at
their default values.
Phase I: Switch on: 1) Full geotextile
2) Retaining bank
Switch off: 3) Ditch (left of the embankment)
Phase II: Switch on: 1) First layer of hydraulic fill
Phase III: Switch on: 1) Second layer of hydraulic fill
• As node(s) for load displacement curves, select the toe of the embankment (point 2).
• Start the calculation.
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

INSPECT OUTPUT
In order to get a good idea of the displacement mechanism, one can view the contours of incremental
displacements. This plot of the final calculation step clearly shows the effect of the geotextile
reinforcement (presented below).

Figure 6: Incremental displacements contours (final phase).

The axial forces of the geotextile can be visualised by double clicking on the geotextile. This will first
present the displacement of the geotextile. On using the menu item Forces, one can select Axial
forces.

Figure 7: Axial forces in geotextile (final phase).

At the ends of the geotextile the axial force must be zero, but due to the discretisation and some
numerical inaccuracy this is not completely achieved.This normal behaviour in FEM calculations of
geotextiles.
 Geotextile reinforced embankment

SAFETY FACTOR ANALYSIS

SCHEME OF OPERATIONS

• Safety factor analysis

• Create load-displacement curve

SAFETY FACTOR ANALYSIS

• Start the calculation program and select the reinforced embankment project.
• In the existing calculations list, press the Next button to add the fourth calculation phase. This will
add <Phase 4>. Please note that the previous calculation phases must be indicated by a check
mark, .
• In contrast to most other calculation, a Phi/c reduction calculation is needed for safety factor
analyses. Select Phi/c reduction from the calculation type combo box on the first tab sheet.
• On the second tab sheet Parameter, Incremental multipliers is already selected from the loading
input combo box. Note the number of additional steps. This is set to 100 by default for a phi/c
reduction calculation. This number of steps is sufficient to reach a steady state in this case. Press
the Define button to continue to the third tab sheet Multipliers. On selecting Phi/c reduction,
PLAXIS has introduced a default value for the incremental multiplier Msf (0.1). This value may be
used in most situations.
• Click on the Calculation button to start the safety factor analysis. Note that the calculation process
will skip all calculation phases that were successfully finished, and that are indicated by . Phase
4 is the only calculation phase that is processed.

INSPECT OUTPUT

• Start the curves program. Select a new curve and select the appropriate project. This presents the
Curve Generation window. Enter the values as indicated in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Curve generation window.

 Geotextile reinforced embankment

The created curve indicates a safety factor close to 1.7, as can be seen in Figure 9.

Sum-Msf
1,8

1,6

1,4

1,2

1,0
0 10 20 30 40 50
|U| [m]

Figure 9: Safety factor curve.

From the graph above, the factor of safety can be determined. Always look for a steady state solution
(slight variations in the load multipliers, increasing displacements). In most case, the phi/c reduction
calculation shows some variation at the beginning of the calculation. Note that the displacements
resulting from a Phi/c reduction are non-physical. Hence the total displacements are not relevant. An
incremental displacement plot of the last step, however, shows the failure mechanism that
corresponds the calculated value for ΣMsf.

Figure 10: Incremental displacement vectors (phase 4).

Figure 11: Incremental displacements contours (phase 4).

 Geotextile reinforced embankment

NON-REINFORCED EMBANKMENT

SCHEME OF OPERATIONS:

• Introduce a new phase (5). In the <Start from phase> list box select <0 – initial phase>. Hence,
the new phase starts from the initial stress state as created in the initial conditions. Excavate the
ditch and construct the embankment.
• In the next phase (6) the first part of the hydraulic fill is activated.
• In the next phase (7) the second part of the hydraulic fill is activated.
After an additional phi/c reduction is performed, the safety factor is calculated as 1.3. Presented below
is the incremental displacement plot of the phi/c reduction step. This plot shows the failure
mechanism.
In order to compare the mechanisms of the reinforced and the non-reinforced embankments, select
both the third and the seventh phase in the calculations program (hold down the shift key) and click
on the output button. The output program will include both situations. Select Tile from the Window
menu to show both plots next to each other.

Figure 12: Incremental displacements as vectors (phase 8).

Figure 13: Incremental displacements as contours (phase 8).

 Geotextile reinforced embankment

NON-REINFORCED EMBANKMENT INCLUDING

STRONG SAND LAYER
It is not necessary to include the strong sand layer below the clay layer. The failure mechanism is the
same with or without the sand layer as shown in Figure 14.

Clay

Strong sand

Figure 14: Incremental displacements as contours for a non-reinforced embankment including the
strong sand layer.