Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.jrmge.cn

Full Length Article

Mechanical properties of a clay soil reinforced with rice husk under

drained and undrained conditions
Claudia Regina Bernardi Baldin, Maiky Yamato Kawanami, Weiner Gustavo Silva Costa,
Vitor Reinaldo Bordignon, Cristhyano Cavali da Luz, Ronaldo Luis dos Santos Izzo*
Federal University of Technology - Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fiber-reinforced soils have been increasingly used in geotechnical engineering. Over the years, research
Received 5 August 2022 has sought to understand and investigate the influences of fibers as reinforcement in soilefiber mixtures.
Received in revised form This study assessed the behavior of clayey soil in the city of Curitiba (Paraná, Brazil), adding rice husk
19 December 2022
fiber (RHF), an industrial waste from Cooperativa Agroindustrial in Alegrete (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil).
Accepted 16 February 2023
To evaluate the effect of the presence of natural RHF on the mechanical behavior of compacted soil,
Available online 30 March 2023
aspects such as the influence of fiber content and the drained and undrained behaviors of the soil were
evaluated through unconfined triaxial compression tests. The following tests were realized: soil gran-
Keywords:
Clay soil
ulometry, specific mass of solids and Atterberg limits. Specimens were produced in quadruplicate for the
Rice husk soil and mixtures using the RHF contents of 0.5%, 0.75%, 1% and 1.5% to determine the unconfined
Soil reinforcement compressive strength (UCS). Triaxial tests were realized on a pure soil specimen and the specimens with
1% RHF under confining pressures of 50 kPa, 100 kPa, 200 kPa and 400 kPa. The interactions at the
interface between husk surface and soil were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In UCS
tests, specimens with RHF percentages of 1% and 1.5% presented the highest results, with an increment of
36% compared to the soil without RHF. The results of the consolidated drained triaxial compression tests
show that in terms of effective stress, there was a small difference in the strength of the compacted pure
soil and soil with the addition of RHF. For the undrained tests, the strength increased with the inclusion
of husk, with a reduction of 50% in cohesion and an increment of 22% in friction angle for specimens
containing RHF compared to the soil without RHF additions.
Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Rice is one of the most produced and consumed grains in the
world. For many people, it is considered the most important cereal.
Among the residues generated by rice production are bran, broken
rice, rice husk, and burnt husk ash. These by-products are gener-
ated in significant quantities and must be treated and disposed of
properly (Lorenzett et al., 2012). Rice husk is generated in a
considerable volume proportionally to the total mass of grain
produced. According to Ali et al. (2016), 1 ton of rice has 220 kg of
husk. In keeping with this estimate, about 2.6 million tons of rice
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: izzo@utfpr.edu.br (R.L.S. Izzo).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences.
husk would be generated for the 11.75 million tons of Brazilian
production in the 2019e2020 harvest (CONAB, 2021).
Much of the rice husk generated in Brazil is burnt after har-
vesting to reduce the impact on cultivated areas. However, burning
this material can cause even more environmental problems such as
air pollution and the waste of biological resources. Therefore, the
proper and immediate disposal of rice husk is a crucial concern.
Using this natural rice husk can help to reduce atmospheric
pollution (Haider, 2013). Several authors have investigated rice
husk ash in chemically stabilized soils (Basha et al., 2005;
Muntohar, 2005; Rao et al., 2011; Kumar and Gupta, 2016; Jiang
et al., 2019). Other researchers have used rice husks in composite
materials (Canakci et al., 2015; Gowthaman et al., 2018; Pakravan
et al., 2018; Mohamed et al., 2020). However, an alternative to
this issue may be using natural rice husk in soil reinforcement
studies to improve its mechanical properties, especially tensile

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2023.02.022
1674-7755 Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
strength. There is no information available on the use of rice husk to
reinforce soil, requiring an experimental study.
Clay soils are highly sensitive to moisture variations and
consequent changes in volume, while offering low shear strength,
high compressibility and cracking tendencies when used in pave-
ments, railway embankments, impervious blankets, sealing ele-
ments, and liners (Shourijeh et al., 2022). In this sense, short
discrete fibers can be added and mixed randomly into the soil,
which allows for an isotropic increase in the strength of the soil
composite and the absence of planes of weakness (Maher, 1988;
Gray et al., 1989; Chauhan et al., 2008; Estabragh et al., 2011;
Gowthaman et al., 2018). The use of fibers as soil reinforcement can
contribute to promoting an increase in the strength of the soile
fiber mixture, as reported in the research by Estabragh et al.
(2011), Qu and Sun (2016), Khatri et al. (2016), and Suffri et al.
(2019).
Some work has been carried out to verify and analyze the
reinforcement of soils with the use of fibers. According to Tang et al.
(2007), when associated with the soils, the fibers can improve their
mechanical properties and reduce deformation. In addition, for
seeking sustainability, fiber-reinforced soils have been encouraged
in geotechnics, including stabilizing paving bases and subbases,
landfills, slope stabilization, retaining wall structures and im-
provements in hydraulic conductivity for waste containment
(Shukla, 2017; Ammar et al., 2019; Ehrlich et al., 2019; Ghorbani
et al., 2021).
Ibraim et al. (2012) studied the influence of the orientation of
the fibers used to reinforce a sandy soil, using moist tamping and
moist vibration techniques for specimen preparation. Three
different discrete flexible polypropylene fibers have been used as
reinforcing materials and the fiber orientation distribution was
determined. An anisotropic behavior was verified in both specimen
preparation methodologies and a gain in triaxial compressive
strength. The marked anisotropic behavior supports the anisotropic
distribution of the determined fiber orientation.
Sotomayor and Casagrande (2018) evaluated the loade
settlement behavior of unreinforced and reinforced sands with
coconut fibers in either a random or a layered distribution in plate
load tests. The authors observed that the most significant settle-
ment reduction is obtained with fibers in the layered distribution
and the random distribution of fibers provides some more ductility
and, consequently, the mixture can resist the highest load than that
with fibers of layered distribution.
Zhang et al. (2021) examined the performance of a micaceous
soil reinforced with a combination of jute fibers, hydrated lime or
slag-lime. On the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests,
they observed that the material strength and stiffness were
increased with the inclusion of up to 1% fiber and decreased if
additional fibers were used. Moreover, the ductility was improved
consistently with up to 1.5% fiber content.
Nezhad et al. (2021) investigated the influence of natural fibers,
including basalt and bagasse as well as synthetic polyester fibers,
on the strength behavior of clayey soil performing indirect tensile
strength (ITS) and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests. The effects of
various fiber contents (0.5%, 1% and 2%) and lengths (2.5 mm, 5 mm
and 7.5 mm) were evaluated. It was found that increasing fiber
content and length significantly influenced the CBR and ITS values.
Moreover, the triaxial compression test results revealed that with
the addition of basalt fibers, the internal friction angle increased by
about 100%, and with the addition of polyester fibers, the cohesion
increased by about 70%.
According to Correia et al. (2021), the fibers exert a strong in-
fluence on the mechanical properties of soil through the friction of
the interface between the fibers and the soil particles, resulting in
greater shear strength and improvement in soil ductility. These
2677
authors studied the behavior of a clayey soil mixed with poly-
propylene fibers (average diameter of 18 mm and average length of
12 mm) from drained and undrained triaxial compression tests. In
the drained tests, the shear strength increased with the inclusion of
the fiber for a particular average effective stress, represented by an
increase in the apparent cohesion. The effect on the friction angle
was smaller. From consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial compres-
sion tests, it was found that the positive excess pore water pressure
observed in all tests was not sensitive to fiber reinforcement. The
authors observed that the fiber strength is mobilized after plasti-
fication, which leads to an increase in strength. It was also observed
that failure occurred at large strains in the drained tests, but at
smaller strains in the undrained tests.
The mechanical properties of a soilefiber mixture are directly
associated with the percentage of fiber addition and its length. For
example, Wei et al. (2018) performed unconfined compression tests
on a soilefiber mixture to confirm the optimal fiber content and
length of wheat straw, rice straw, jute, and polypropylene fiber.
Triaxial compression tests were performed on fiberelimeesoil
specimens to study their strength, stressestrain behavior, and
failure pattern. The authors concluded that the four fiber types
could improve the strength and stressestrain properties of the soil
and soilelime mixture.
Estabragh et al. (2011) investigated the effects of nylon fibers
with small length (4 mm length, 2 mm width, and 0.4 mm thick-
ness) as reinforcement in a clayey soil of low plasticity. CU triaxial
tests were performed on unreinforced and reinforced soil speci-
mens with different percentages of randomly distributed fibers.
The results showed that the shear strength and internal friction
angle of the natural soil significantly increased with the addition of
the fiber.
Qu and Sun (2016) evaluated the effects of wheat straw fiber
reinforcement in clayey soil. The dimensions of the straw fiber used
in the study were approximately 10 mm in length. The results
showed an increase in stiffness and shear strength with increasing
fiber content. The internal friction angles in terms of total and
effective stresses (4 and 40 , respectively) also increased with fiber
content until it reached an optimal value, between 0.2% and 0.3%.
Khatri et al. (2016) performed a series of CU triaxial tests on coir
fibers reinforced clay and reported an improvement in undrained
shear strength with increased fiber content from 0.4% to 1.6%.
Suffri et al. (2019) also evaluated a clayey soil with coconut fiber
contents of 0.5%e2% using CU triaxial tests and found that the in-
clusion of fibers increased the undrained shear strength.
According to Zhao et al. (2009), rice husk is an abundant waste,
with low price and potential for biodegradability. However, rela-
tively few published data are available on its performance as
reinforcement to soil. In this sense, the present study puts focus on
the effects of natural rice husk on improving the mechanical
behavior of a clayey soil. Aspects such as the influence of fiber
content and the presence of fiber on the drained and undrained
behaviors of the soil were evaluated through unconfined triaxial
compression tests. Clayey soil reinforced with rice husk can be a
beneficial engineering material, as it is possible to use this fiber as a
low-cost alternative material for soil reinforcement.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Soil and rice husk
The material studied is a reddish-colored clay soil collected in a
plot of land located in the vicinity of Cidade Industrial de Curitiba,
near the Federal Technological University of Paraná at coordinates
(25 260 44.70300 , 49 21014.61300 ), in the city of Curitiba (Paraná,
Brazil) (Fig. 1). The natural rice husk, which is 8.92 mm long and
2678 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686

Fig. 1. Profile of clay soil collected.

Fig. 3. Grain size distribution curve of the soil studied.

Table 2
Chemical composition (%) of the soil used.

SiO2 Al2O3 CaO SO3 K2O Fe2O3 TiO2

56.37 33.61 4.12 3.11 1.75 1.08 0.004

Fig. 2. Rice husk fibers (RHFs).

1.56 mm wide, was obtained directly from the rice processing in-
dustry in Alegrete (Rio Grande Sul, Brazil), and corresponds to the
2018 rice crop (Fig. 2).
The soil characteristics are presented in Table 1 and Fig. 3. The
soil classification follows ASTM D2487e17 (2017), and the particle
size distribution is measured following NBR 7181 (2016). The spe-
cific mass of the soil solids is determined according to the pro-
cedures of ASTM D854e14 (2014), and the consistency limits, i.e.
the liquidity and plasticity limits, are obtained based on the rec-
ommendations of NBR 6459 (2016) and NBR 7180 (2016),
respectively.
The quantitative chemical composition of the soil specimen Fig. 4. SEM image of soileRHF mixture with a magnification of 500 (1e7 are the EDS
points).
surveyed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is presented in Table 2.
Fig. 4 shows the microphotographs for soileRHF mixture using
scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a magnification of 500 Table 3
times. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis of EDX results of soil and RHF (in weight %).
microanalysis points shown in Fig. 4 are presented in Table 3. These
Material Spectrum C O Mg Al Si K Ca Ti Fe
results agree with those obtained in the XRF analysis where silicon,
aluminum and oxygen were observed mainly in the soil. In RHF, RHF 1 49.7 46.2 e 1.6 2.1 e 0.1 e 0.4
2 32.4 43.3 e 3.8 15.2 e e 1.1 4.2
carbon, oxygen and silicon predominate.
The optimum soil compaction parameters were determined by Soil 3 e 62.3 e 15.8 16 0.4 e 0.7 4.8
the standard Proctor test using material reuse (NBR 7182, 2016). 4 e 60.8 e 17.5 15.2 0.3 e 0.6 5.7
5 e 41.7 e 22 21.1 0.7 e 1.7 12.8
The material has 27% optimum moisture and 1.47 g/cm3 maximum 6 e 53.7 e 16.2 24.3 0.3 e 0.7 4.7
7 e 63.2 0.2 16.3 15.9 0.3 e 0.7 3.6

Table 1
Properties of the materials used.

Material Liquid limit, LL (%) Plastic limit, PL (%) Plasticity index, PI (%) Specific weight, Component (%) Classification Transportation Unified Soil Classification
Gs (g/cm3) Research Board (TRB) System (USCS)
Clay Silt Sand Boulder

Soil 56 43 13 2.56 57.3 15.2 26.6 0.9 A-7-5 High-plasticity silt (MH)
RHF e e e 0.77 e e e e e e
 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686 2679

At the optimum compaction parameters, specimens were mol-

ded in quadruplicate with the homogeneous pure soil to determine
the UCS.
For evaluating the effect of fiber addition on the UCS, the soil
was mixed with fibers at 0.5%, 0.75%, 1% and 1.5% in terms of dry
mass, under the same compaction conditions as the soil without
fibers. Water was added to reach the optimum moisture content
(wot). The mixing of the composite with distilled water was carried
out as quickly as possible, trying to minimize moisture losses dur-
ing the molding process of the specimens. The fiber contents were
chosen based on studies that used natural fibers as reinforcement
in clayey soil, as shown in Table 4.
The specimens were statically compacted in three layers with a
stainless-steel mold with an internal diameter of 50 mm, 100 mm
height and 5 mm thick at the optimal compaction parameters. The
Fig. 5. Soil compaction curve without the addition of RHF.
molding was done with the help of a manual hydraulic press
(Fig. 6aec). The specimens were compacted to achieve a minimum
degree of compaction of 95% at the optimum moisture content of
dry density. The soil compaction curve is shown in Fig. 5. The pre-
the fiber-free soil.
consolidation stress of this compacted soil is 260 kPa, according to
The UCS test procedures were performed according to NBR
the Pacheco Silva method.
12025 (1990) after molding. The test speed was 1 mm/min. The
UCS is the maximum breaking load of the material divided by the
cross-sectional area of the specimen (Fig. 7).

2.2. UCS test procedures

2.3. Triaxial test procedures
Soil specimens were prepared for characterization and
compaction tests according to NBR 6457 (2016) with oven drying For the triaxial shear tests, specimens were molded under the
due to high atmospheric humidity. same conditions for the unconfined compression tests.

Table 4
Studies that used natural fibers as reinforcement in clayey soil.

Literature Fiber content (%) Length of fibers Type of fibers Type of soils Optimal fiber content (%)
(mm)

Subramani and Udayakumar 0.25, 0,50, 0.75, and 1 e Coir fiber Clay soil 0.5
(2016)
Menezes et al. (2019) 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 e Green coir fiber Clayey sand soil 0.5 and 0.75
Qu and Sun (2016) 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 5, 10, and 15 Wheat straw fibers clayey soil 0.2 and 0.3 (fiber length of
0.6 10 mm)
Prabakar and Sridhar (2002) 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 10, 15, 20, and 25 Sisal fiber Sand (6.38%) þ silt 0.75 (fiber length of 20 mm)
(78.48%)
þ clay (15.14%)
Abou Diab et al. (2016) 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, and 1.5 w40 "Hemp" fibers-Cannabis Compacted clay 0.5e1.25
Sativa
Suffri et al. (2019) 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 e Crushed coir fibers Soft clay e

Fig. 6. Preparation and molding of specimens: (a) Mixing; (b) Compaction; and (c) Extraction.
2680 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686

Fig. 7. UCS test press.

Consolidated drained (CD) and CU triaxial shear tests were per-

formed according to ASTM D7181-20 (2020) and ASTM D4767e
11(2020) (2020), respectively, to evaluate the difference between
Fig. 8. Triaxial test press.
the drained and undrained behaviors of the soil without and with
the addition of natural rice husk.
Specimens were saturated using water percolation and back- Table 6
pressure until a minimum B parameter of 0.95 (Skempton, 1954). UCS of mixtures, and the mean value, SD and CV values for all mixtures according to
Subsequently, the specimens were consolidated with average RHF addition levels.
effective stresses of 50 kPa, 100 kPa, 200 kPa, and 400 kPa. The test RHF content (%) UCS (kPa) Mean (kPa) SD (kPa) CV (%)
speed was 1 mm/min for both the CD and CU tests. Information
*SG1 *SG2 *SG3 *SG4
about the specimens is described in Table 5.
A semiautomatic press was used for the triaxial shear tests, 0 232.7 247.7 233.9 240 238.6 6.9 2.88
0.5 229.1 256.9 249.2 244.9 245 11.7 4.78
consisting of three components: the press, the volume control
0.75 246.1 237.1 259 236.1 244.6 10.6 4.34
module, and the pore pressure control module, as shown in Fig. 8. 1 308.2 325.1 333.8 332.6 324.9 11.8 3.63
1.5 325.7 325.7 315.1 326.2 323.2 5.4 1.67

2.4. SEM Note: *SG represents the specimen group.

SEM and chemical microanalyses of natural and fiber-reinforced

soils were determined by EDX analysis using an Oxford (Penta
FET125 Precision) laser micro-mass analyzer (LAMMA-1000, model
X-ACT).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. UCS

Results of the compression tests on the pure and RHF-reinforced

soils are presented in Table 6 and Fig. 9. The mean, SD, and CV
values for each mixture are presented according to statistical
criteria.
From the average results obtained, the gain in UCS was evident
when the added RHF content was above 1%. For the soil with 1% and
1.5% fiber addition, the strength values were 324.9 kPa and
323.2 kPa, respectively, approximately 36% higher than that of the
Fig. 9. UCS results.

Table 5
Information on the compacted specimens for performing the unconfined and triaxial compression tests.

Wet bulk density, rn Dry bulk density, rd Void ratio Molding water content, w

Mean (g/cm3) SD (g/cm3) CV (%) Mean (g/cm3) SD (g/cm3) CV (%) Mean SD CV (%) Mean (%) SD (%) CV (%)

1.85 0.01 0.5 1.46 0.01 0.7 0.74 0.01 1.5 26.53 0.61 2.3

Note: SD denotes the standard deviation, and CV is the coefficient of variation.

 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
pure soil (238.6 kPa) (Table 6). These tests were performed at the
optimum moisture content, i.e. under unsaturation conditions. The
results obtained here were possibly influenced by the higher vol-
ume of solids in the mixtures with a higher amount of fiber, given
the lower density of the fiber and that the specimens were com-
pacted under the same dry specific mass. This may have led to
greater compaction in the molding process.
Studies indicate that the UCS increases with fiber content up to a
threshold (Maliakal and Thiyyakkandi, 2013; Najjar et al., 2014),
beyond which the improvement in strength reaches an asymptotic
upper limit, and thereafter begins to decline (Prabakar and Sridhar,
2002; Anagnostopoulos et al., 2014). Abou Diab et al. (2016) pointed
out that high fiber contents result in a poor mixture, preventing
contact between soil particles and weakening the fiber/soil bond.
Thus, it can be argued that 1% and 1.5% levels of RHF significantly
improve the UCS, with a tendency of decrease in strength when the
added RHF is beyond 1.5%.
Kumar et al. (2006) assessed a clay soil in UCS test with 0%, 0.5%,
1%, 1.5% and 2% flat and crimped polyester fibers. Three lengths of
3 mm, 6 mm and 12 mm were chosen for flat fibers, while crimped
fibers were cut to 3 mm long. The results indicated that as the fiber
length and/or fiber content increases, the UCS value improves.
Canakci et al. (2015) analyzed the expansive soil specimens
treated with lignin, rice husk powder (RHP) ranging from 0% to 20%,
and rice husk ash (RHA) from 0% to 10% by weight in the laboratory.
The treated specimens were submitted to UCS tests. The results
indicated that an RHP content of 15% was ideal in relation to UCS.
Fig. 10. Failure envelopes in terms of effective stresses.
Fig. 11. Stress paths in the CU triaxial test: (a) RHFesoil mixture; and (b) Compacted pure soil. q is the deviatoric stress, and p0 is the mean effective stress.
2681
Wei et al. (2018) found that soil reinforcement with wheat
straw, rice straw, jute and polypropylene fiber brought improve-
ments concerning UCS at different fiber contents and lengths. The
best results were observed at fiber contents between 0.2% and
0.25%, and the ideal fiber length was 30% or 40% of the specimen
diameter (61.8 mm). It was observed that lower fiber contents were
necessary to obtain better behavior in this test for this length,
which is much longer than that of rice husk.
3.2. Triaxial compression tests
In Fig. 10, the failure envelopes are presented in terms of
effective stresses. It is noteworthy that in the CD test, compared to
the pure compacted soil, the cohesion of the soil with the addition
of 1% RHF reduced by 5 kPa and the internal friction angle reduced
by 1%. For the CU triaxial test, there was a greater difference in both
parameters when comparing the soils with and without fiber
reinforcement, showing a possible influence of the fibers on the
undrained behavior.
Regarding the effect of the fibers on the effective stress pa-
rameters, the results of the undrained triaxial compression tests
showed a notable increase of internal friction angle (4) and a
reduction of cohesion (c). Shen et al. (2021) explained that the
presence of fibers can modify the internal friction angle and
cohesion of clayey soil. This result indicated an interaction between
the soil and RHF strongly influenced by the friction in undrained
conditions.
As can be observed from the stress paths and the behavior of
volumetric variation and generated pore pressure (Figs. 11e13),
Fig. 12. Excessive pore pressure versus axial strain obtained from CU tests.
2682 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
Fig. 13. Volumetric strain versus axial strain obtained from CD tests.
during failure in the CD and CU tests, respectively, there is a dif-
ference in the behavior of compacted pure soil and soil with the
addition of RHF. A behavior of more contraction and more signifi-
cant excess pore pressure can be observed in the specimens with
fiber, possibly due to the strain behavior of the RHF. For lower
stresses (50 kPa and 100 kPa), the tendency of dilation was more
accentuated in the soil without the fiber, since there was a more
significant generation of negative pore pressure in undrained
conditions. This behavior is typical of overconsolidated clays (Craig,
2004).
At the drained condition (CD test), the reduction in the shear
strength parameters was influenced by the presence of RHF,
possibly by the lower RHFesoil shear strength. Factors such as the
shape, lubrication, length and honeycomb pattern of the RHF can
contribute to this behavior.
At the undrained condition (CU test), as observed, the negative
pore pressures occur in the soil in a more accentuated way than
that in the RHFesoil mixture at lower confining stresses (Fig. 12).
Furthermore, the lower excess pore pressure in the pure soil at
higher confining stresses influences frictional resistance. Therefore,
the strength is influenced by the lower effective stresses in the
mixture with a reduction in the cohesion and an increase in the
internal friction angle under the undrained condition (Fig. 10).
As the analysis was done in terms of effective stress, the pore
pressure generated in the CU test modified the stress paths, as can
be seen in Fig. 11. The development of pore pressure was greater in
the soil specimen reinforced with RHF. This behavior probably due
to the honeycomb pattern of the fibers.
Fig. 14. Secant modulus versus axial strain obtained from CU tests.
Due to the positive excess pore pressure, it is possible to verify
that the effective stress envelope moves away from the total stress
at confining stresses of 200 kPa and 400 kPa. It is also possible to
verify that the soils with and without fiber present a similar
behavior. However, it is important to consider that the shear
strength decreases at the soilefiber interface due to the low
resistance generated between them.
Regarding the volumetric strain in the CD triaxial tests (Fig. 13),
the RHFesoil mixture shows more significant contraction than the
pure soil. This is in agreement with the behavior under undrained
conditions with a tendency to swelling, typical of overconsolidated
clays. Studies conducted by Abou Diab et al. (2018), Louzada et al.
(2019), and Correia et al. (2021) also observed more significant
contraction during shear tests on the fiber-reinforced soil
compared with unreinforced soil.
These differences are in line with the study by Bordoloi et al.
(2017), where infiltration rate was investigated in a compacted
composite of soil reinforced with natural fibers (jute, coir, and
water hyacinth), using the same aspect ratio to reinforce the soil
using three different fiber percentages and different densities. The
authors observed that percolation increased for all fiberesoil
mixtures compared to pure soil. This increase was attributed to
the preferential flow along the fibers in the case of compounds. It
was also observed that the surface morphology and the type of
filament arrangement also influenced the infiltration of these
composites. The same results were obtained for a soilefiber
mixture by Ehrlich et al. (2019) and Miller and Rifai (2004). The
preferential pathways for the flow of water within the specimen
and the resulting increase in hydraulic conductivity contribute to
facilitating water percolation and the volumetric contraction
behavior.
Abou Diab et al. (2018) evaluated the volumetric deformation
versus axial deformation for clay specimens and specimens rein-
forced with 40 mm long hemp fibers, with fiber contents of 1% and
1.5%. They found that the measured volumetric strains show
additional shrinkage in reinforced specimens. This effect increases
as the fiber content increases.
The relations between the secant modulus and axial strain for
the CU and CD tests with pure soil and the addition of RHF are
shown in Figs. 14 and 15, respectively. In the undrained triaxial
tests, a higher modulus was observed for the pure soil. This ten-
dency was also found in the drained triaxial tests. Notably, the
presence of fibers reduced the secant modulus and showed a lower
cohesion value between soil particles, causing a change in the
structure of the fiber-compacted material. This is probably a
consequence of the limitation related to the anchorage length of
the fiber, in addition to its honeycomb form structure, which may
Fig. 15. Secant modulus versus axial strain obtained from CD tests.
 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
have contributed to the reduction of material ductility. Casagrande
and Consoli (2002) studied the behavior of soil reinforced with
polypropylene fibers. They observed that the addition of fibers to
the soil caused a reduction of the soil secant modulus by approxi-
mately 20%. The authors explained that changes in the material
structure due to the incorporation of fibers can have consequences
of reduced secant modulus. According to Wang et al. (2019), it is
probably due to the change in the soil fabric generated by the
presence of flexible fibers.
The idea of ductility is presented here and used to determine the
action of rice husk. Bekhiti et al. (2019) defined the ductility by the
aptitude of a material or structural system to sustain inelastic
deformation prior to collapse without significant loss of strength.
The authors observed the contribution of tire rubber fibers to the
increase of ductility of a fiber-reinforced soil specimen in compar-
ison with cement-reinforced specimens. Bordoloi et al. (2015)
affirmed that the inclusion of water hyacinth fiber changed the
brittle behavior of the soil to a ductile behavior of the soilefiber
composite.
Wang et al. (2019) investigated the effect of wheat straw fiber
reinforcement on the mechanical behavior of clayey soil, and
analyzed the secant modulus at 1.2% axial strain level for untreated
soil and fiber-reinforced soil. The authors observed that there was a
reduction in the secant modulus with reinforcement. Despite this,
the effect of fiber reinforcement on the shear strength was bene-
ficial, with the addition of 0.4% fibers.
Fig. 16 presents the relation between the main effectives stress
ratio (s01 =s03 ) and the axial strain under CD conditions for pure soil
and soieRHF mixture. The figure indicates that the increase in
stresses makes the behavior of the soil with and without fiber
become less uneven. It is observed that the magnitudes of vari-
ability of the stress ratio curves under higher and lower confining
stresses are different between soil and RHFesoil mixture. The
typical behavior of overconsolidated clays is also observed at the
peak of the effective stress versus axial strain curves at lower
confining stresses. This is less pronounced in the RHFesoil mixture.
The previously presented factors on the fiber probably attenuate
the overconsolidated behavior of the mixture. It is also observed
from Fig. 16 that the material undergoes greater deformation until
the maximum stress is reached, when RHF is added.
Mirzababaei et al. (2020) found that the improvement in shear
strength of fiber-reinforced clay decreased with confining stress
due to the fiber breakage effect. Correia et al. (2021) observed that
the efficiency of polypropylene fibers on a clay soil seems not to
increase with the increase of confining stresses, which is expected
since it improves the soilefiber interaction. The authors attributed
Fig. 16. Principal effective stress ratio for CD tests.
2683
this to a potential fiber breakage effect at the highest mean effective
stress levels.
Fig. 17 presents the strength envelopes in terms of total stresses.
It is noted that in undrained conditions, the greatest difference
occurs in cohesion, with a greater value for pure soil. This result
may be related to the contact between the soil grains, which may
cause gaps between the particles and reduce the cohesion value of
the soileRHF mixture in relation to the pure soil.
Although a slight increase of the internal friction angle may be
related to the increase in soilefiber roughness, cohesion is notably
affected by the presence of fibers, with the reduction of bonds
between soil particles, which may explain the drop in the cohesion
value shown in Fig. 17. The typical behavior of overconsolidated
clays less pronounced in the soileRHF mixture also justified this
difference.
Wang et al. (2017) investigated the strategies for improving the
strength characteristics of expansive soil through the insertion of
jute fibers into soil mass. They observed that a further increase in
fiber content (above 0.6%) decreases the cohesion. This decrease
was attributed to the replacement of soil particles by many fibers.
As shown in Fig. 18, one of the main advantages of using fibers is
the absence of potential planes of weakness. The soileRHF speci-
mens exhibited “bulging” behavior after the maximum deviatoric
stress was reached, and unreinforced soil specimens exhibited
partial development of a shear plane. Correia et al. (2021) also
observed this behavior in drained tests, and Xu et al. (2018) noted
the same rupture in CU tests with bulging located in the middle of
the specimens. Mirzababaei et al. (2020) found that bulging could
occur in different vertical locations of the specimen if the fibers are
not uniformly distributed.
According to Ghavami et al. (1999), the main variables that
generally control the strength and performance of a fiberesoil
composite are tensile strength, water absorption by the fibers and
their adhesion to the soil. The authors illustrated that the adhesion
at the fiberematrix interface is determined by three factors: (i) the
soil shear strength due to the surface shape and fiber roughness; (ii)
friction forces on the fiber surface due to soil contraction in case of
drying; and (iii) the cohesive properties of the soil. In addition, each
of these three factors, affected by dimensional changes in the
natural fiber, can occur due to changes in humidity and
temperature.
Several researchers have noted that fiber slip resistance is
strongly dependent on the fiber surface roughness (Tang et al.,
2010; Hejazi et al., 2012; Jamsawang et al., 2018) and length
(Jamsawang et al., 2018). Jamsawang et al. (2018) explained that as
the shear force is applied to a soilefiber matrix, the adhesion force
decreases due to the decrease in embedded fiber length. Thus,
Fig. 17. Failure envelopes in terms of total stresses for CU tests.
2684 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
Fig. 18. Specimens after rupture: (a) SoileRHF mixture; and (b) Compacted pure soil.
Fig. 19. SEM image of soilefiber surface.
failure occurs when the shear force exceeds the binding force along
the length of the fiber embedded in the soil.
3.3. SEM
SEM micrographs of the soileRHF surface (Fig. 19) show a
honeycomb pattern of the fiber and the experimental evidence of
Fig. 20. SEM images of clayey soil (a) before and (b) after modifying with 1% fiber.
friction between fibers and soil due to undulations presented on
the soil surface and the breakage or pulling out of the fibers.
Through SEM micrographs of wheat straw fiber-reinforced and
unreinforced soils, Wang et al. (2019) observed that the mobiliza-
tion of the fiber reinforcement effect was driven by friction devel-
oped during physical contact between soil particles and the fiber
surface. In addition, they also observed the honeycomb pattern by
analyzing the surface of wheat straw fibers.
SEM images of fiber-reinforced and unreinforced soils are
shown in Fig. 20. Fig. 20b shows that the surface presented by the
soil reinforced with 1% fiber is more compacted compared to soil
without fibers (Fig. 20a). However, the presence of cracks and
porous space is observed on the two surfaces analyzed (Fig. 20). By
observing these images, it can be concluded that the voids in the
soilefiber contact may have influenced the stressestrain behavior
of the mixture. This more compacted structure may have contrib-
uted to the increase in the UCS (Table 6). However, a significant
increase in the soil shear strength was not observed. The limited
length of the fiber and its shape may have influenced this
performance.
The soil treatment with fibers is considered one of the best ways
to prevent cracks. Although fiber has been shown to boost hy-
draulic conductivity in clayey soils, where its effectiveness has been
shown to be limited, fiber also strengthens the soil (Firoozi et al.,
2017).
Tang et al. (2007) analyzed by SEM the interactions at the
interface between the surface of polypropylene short fibers and a
clayey soil matrix. It was found that bond strength and friction at
the soilefiber interface can be influenced by several factors, such as
 C.R.B. Baldin et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2676e2686
bonding materials in the soil, normal stress around the fiber body,
effective interface contact area, and surface roughness of the fiber.
Both fiber length and fiber shape contribute to the interfacial bond
strength of soilefiber matrix (Jamsawang et al., 2018).
4. Conclusions
This paper has presented the behavior of clayey soil mixed with
rice husk, using the results of UCS tests, drained and undrained
triaxial shear tests and SEM analysis. The specimens for UCS tests
were prepared with 0.5%, 0.75%, 1% and 1.5% RHF. For triaxial shear
tests, specimens were prepared only with 1% RHF. They were iso-
tropically consolidated under confining pressures of 50 kPa,
100 kPa, 200 kPa and 400 kPa. The microstructural mechanisms
involved in the soilefiber effect were analyzed using SEM micro-
graphs. The main results obtained in the present study are as
follows:
(1) The experimental results of the UCS tests showed an
improvement in the soil strength with RHF addition at levels
higher than 1%. The mixtures of pure soil and RHF of 0.5% and
0.75% remained similar resistance values.
(2) The results of CD triaxial shear tests showed that in terms of
the effective stress, there was no improvement in the
strength of the compacted pure soil reinforced with rice
husk. For undrained tests, the strength increased with the
inclusion of fibers, with differences in the cohesion and in-
ternal friction angle. With the addition of fibers, there was an
increase in the internal friction angle and a decrease in the
cohesion.
(3) Pore pressure in specimens with RHF was higher than that in
the compacted pure soil. This behavior was observed at all
confining stresses.
(4) The addition of fibers increased the soil compressibility and
reduced dilation, with greater influence at lower confining
stresses between 50 kPa and 100 kPa.
(5) In both drained and undrained tests, the secant modulus
grew with increasing confining stresses for compacted pure
soil and fiber-reinforced soil. However, the addition of RHF
caused a reduction in the secant modulus of the mixture.
(6) The results showed that in undrained conditions, the
strength of compacted pure soil was higher than that of fiber-
reinforced soil.
In general, the behavior of reinforced soil with the addition of 1%
rice husk showed promising results for the UCS tests and the fibers
had a low influence on the strength parameters with the saturation
of the specimens. Obviously, the use of the rice husk studied here
could occur in temporary geotechnical structures. As a natural
material, the long-term behavior of the rice husk has not been
evaluated in an open exposure field condition which includes
abrasiveness, temperature fluctuations, lubrication due to water,
erosion, and chemical and biological degradation. Therefore, more
research should be conducted to check parameters related to the
fiber additions in other soils or field conditions.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
2685
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Laboratory of Geotechnics of the
Federal University of Technology e Paraná (UTFPR).
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Dr. Ronaldo Luis dos Santos Izzo received the BSc degree in
Civil Engineering in 1993 from Universidade de Marília,
Brazil. Certification in Occupational Safety Engineering from
Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Brazil
in 2001, MSc degree in Industrial Engineering in 2003 from
Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho
(Brazil), and PhD degree in Civil Engineering in 2008 from
the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) with split
doctorate in Geotechnics at Technical University of
Braunschweig (Germany) in 2006. He was a researcher
fellow at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2011). He is
a professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Federal Uni-
versity of Technology - Paraná (UTFPR), Brazil. His research
interests cover ground improvement, pavement and geoenvironmental engineering.