第37回地盤工学研究発表会

391 H - 07 （大 阪） 2002 年 7 月

Hybrid-earth Reinforced Structures as Coastal Revetments

Ibaraki University, Professor Kazuya Yasuhara, Graduate Student Juan Recio-Molina
1. Introduction
Recently, reinforced revetments such as geosynthetics reinforced structures have been applied in coastal areas of developing countries. Wrap-around geosynthetic
reinforced revetments have been used with various results. Improvement of these wrap-around geosynthetic reinforced revetments is necessary to guarantee the stability of the
structure.Inthis paper two kinds of improvement methods for geosynthetic reinforced wrap-around revetments is presented.

100 mm

water: cement 1 : 1
wave height wave height
loose sand and wave height
180 mm 18 cm mortar 18 cm
dense
Densesand sand layers sewn injected

320 mm geotextile layers 320 mm loose sand 320 mm

sewn together
sand foundation 14 cm sand foundation 140 mm sand foundation 140 mm
Case d) embankment reinforced with a nonwoven e) embankment
Casea) embankment reinforced with a nonwoven geotextile Case b)Case
embankment with a reinforced
nonwoven with a nonwoven
geotextile layers Case
Case f) embankment
c) embankment reinforced
reinforced with a nonwoven
with a nonwoven geotextile geotextile,
geotextile with sand foundation geotextile, layers sewn together and sand foundation
sewn together frontal part injected with mortar and with sand foundation
a..1) without sand foundation frontal part injected with mortar
a..2) with sand foundation b..1) without sand foundation c.1) without sand foundation
b.2) with sand foundation
c.2) with sand foundation

Fig. 1 Model tests scenarios

Not to scale
2. Objective 180 mm
30°
The objective of this paper is analyze the improvement of a wrap-around geosynthetic reinforced revetment due to sewing
the geosynthetic layers together and by injecting the frontal part of the revetment with mortar (water-cement 1:1). The
480 mm
improvement was investigated by means of model tests. nonwoven
geotextile 120 mm

3. Outline and Scheme of the Model Tests

450 mm
All model tests presented in this paper were conducted in a “wave-maker tank” (wave flume). Inside the tank (5000 mm length,
Fig. 2 Embankment dimensions
400 mm width and 600 mm height), a “wrap-around” geosynthetic reinforced embankment (base 450 mm, height 480 mm, each
extensometer Wave-Maker Tank (wave-flume)
layer with 120 mm height, width 400 mm, wrap around length of 120 mm and face moving plate
angle of 60 degrees with the horizontal) was built and subjected to different kinds 20 mm

wrap around wave wave

of traveling waves (Fig. 3). The dimensions of the embankment remained the same generator 600 mm
embankment
during all the tests (Fig. 2). Model tests presented in this paper can be divided into
two groups; the first one, in which the embankment is laid directly on the bottom of 20 cm2 0 mm

the tank with water depth of 200 mm and another, consisting of embankments with 5000 mm
Not to scale
sand foundation beneath the embankment with water depth of 320 mm. Fig. 1 shows Fig. 3 Layout ofthe wave-flume
the layout of the model tests presented in this paper. 0
vertical deformation (mm)

5
4. Model Tests Results
4.1 Results from embankments reinforced with a nonwoven geotextile without foundation
Stable
10 embankments
(1) “Simple” wrap-around geosynthetic reinforced embankment (collapsed)

Figures 4 shows the comparison of vertical deformation versus time relation for the cases with Nonwoven Geotextile, front part injected with mortar(case c)
Nonwoven Geotextile with its layers sewn together (case b)
15
Nonwoven Geotextile, dense sand (case a.2)
nonwoven on loose and dense sands.. It was observed from this model tests that loose sand with Nonwoven Geotextile, loose sand (case a.1)
Nonwoven Geotextile, loose sand (case a.1)
nonwoven embankments presented the larger deformations (Fig 4), and when these embankments 20
0 10 20 30 40
were subject to traveling waves with a height of 180 mm, they collapsed. Time(Hours)
Time (hours)

(2) Embankment with its geotextile layer sewn together and embankment with the frontal part injected Fig. 4 Comparison of vertical displacement
0

with mortar
vertical deformation (mm)

It was observed from the collapsed embankments that the failure was due to the lack of pull-out 10

resistance of the geotextile or due to an insufficient length of the wrap around layer. To investigate the 15

possible increse in stability by external modifications,thesamenonwovengeotextileembankmentwith 20

25
loose sand was built and the geotextile layers were sewn together to increase the slip off resistance of the
30 Nonwoven Geotextile, dense sand, (case d)
geotextile (Fig 1, case b.1). The same wave conditions as Fig. 1, case c.1 (collapsed embankments) Non-Geo, loose sand, layers sewn together (case e)
Non-Geo, loose sand, injected with mortar (case f)
35
0 10 20 30 40
time (hours)

Fig. 5 Comparison of vertical displacement

embankment with foundation

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were generated to observe the improvement due tosewing the layers. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the
embankment with its layers sewn together was stable and that the resistance of the structure and the
0 hr
stability of the embankment also increases. 1 1 hr
7 hr
In others, the frontal part was injected with mortar (Fig 1 case c.1). Embankments with the frontal 13 hr

part injected with mortar, behaved very similar to the layers-sewn embankment. (Fig 4). Inaddition,the
deformation in the frontal part was reduced considerably. Sewing the geotextile layers together and
injecting mortar into the frontal part of the embankments increase the stability of the embankments.

4.2 Results from embankments reinforced with a nonwoven geotextile with foundation Fig. 6 “Simple” wrap-around embankment with
(1) “Simple” wrap-around embankment with sand foundation foundations
An embankment with dense sand and with nonwoven goetextile, was subjected to waves with a wave
height of 180 mm. Previous model tests showed that dense sand embankments reinforced with
0 hr1 hr
nonwoven geotextile under the same wave conditions were stable (Fig 4). Hence, the direct influence of
151 hr1 hr
15 hr
40 hr
the foundation could be investigated. It was observed that the foundation starts to deform due to wave 40 hr

action. This leads to settlement of the frontal part of the bottom layer, originating a reduction of the wrap Loose sand,
layers sewn.
around length of the geotextile layers that is in contact with the Toyoura sand. When the wrap around Stable

length is not enough to support the wave trough (pulling) force, the embankment collapses. (Fig. 6).
From this result it can be verified that a simple “wrap around” embankments laid directly on a sand
foundation cannot support wave trough forces. Sand foundation

(2) Nonwoven Geotextile Layers Sewn Together and Sand Foundation Beneath the Embankment Fig. 7 Geotextile layers sewn together
Results from Model Test (Fig 1, Case b.1), showed that sewing the geotextile layers improves the
behavior of the embankment. To observe the relation with the foundation; a nonwoven embankment
0 hr
with loose sands and its layers sewn together was subjected to waves with a wave height of 180 mm. 1 11 hr
hr
15
15 hr
hr
Fig 5 shows the vertical deformation comparison and it can be observed that the deformation is similar 40 hr
40 hr

to the non-sewn embankment, although in the case of the sewn layers the embankment did not collapse.
Loose sand,
The reason might be because the embankment becames a flexible structure, therefore when the wave mortar injected.
Stable
reduces the foundation level, the embankment settles until it protects itself from further reduction in the
foundation. It can be concluded from this test that sewing the layers together also helps the bottom layer
Sand foundation
to act as its own toe protection.
(3) Comparison between embankment with its layers sewn together and embankment with the frontal Fig. 8 Frontal part injected with mortar
part injected with mortar
Figure 7and Fig 8 show the deformation pattern of an embankment with foundation and its layers sewn together and the deformation patterns of anembankment injected
with mortar, respectively. It was observed that the erosion of the foundation was very similar in both cases, however, the injected embankment settled almost uniformly, while
the layers-sewn embankment settled in a more flexible way.
From this tests it was learnt that sewing the layers of the geotextile and injecting with mortar the frontal part of the embankment increase the internal stability of the
embankment and also increase the overall stability in case that foundation erosion occurs.

5. Conclusions
In this paper two new methods for improving the stability of geosynthetic reinforced revetements were analyzed by means of model tests. According to the model tests results,
these two methods increase the stability of revetment. The advatanges of sewing the geotextile layers together is that sewing the nonwoven geotextile layers together creates a
flexible structure, which can deform accordingly with the changes in the ground increasing its stability. This method can be used in areas where severe foundation erosion is
expected.. On the other hand, if embankments are injected with mortar in their frontal part, the embankment gains weight and since these embankments work as gravity
structures, the resistance against overturning and sliding as well as the internal stability increases.. This method can be reccomended for areas where the wave force under a
crest is high or in case deformations in the revetment need to be maintained in certain level..
References
GODA,YRandomSeasandDesignof Maritime Structures,AdvancedSeriesonOceanEngineeringpages59-160..(1999)
KOERNER,R.M. Designing with Geosynthetics,Prentice Hall226-248.(1997)
PILARCZYK,K.W. Stability Criteria for Geosystems,SixthInternational ConferenceonGeosynthetics,1165-1172.(1996).
RECIO-MOLINA J., and YASUHARA K., : Model tests of reinforced sand revetment under assailing ocean waves, Proc. 16th Conf. Geosynthetics, IGS-Japan Chapter, Decem., 2001, Tokyo,
Japan, 239-246 (2001)

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