Settlement Analysis of Geosynthetics Reinforced Embankments

Abstract

Geosynthetics have been used in many construction and environmental projects in recent years, and the use of geosynthetic products as an effective element is increasing. These materials, as reinforcement, can solve the problems of building heavy structures and roads on weak soils without the need for excavation or filling, foundation, and sub-foundation operations. In this study, using different number and type of geosynthetic materials with two types of soil profiles in different layers of these soils, settlement of these soil layers are investigated. The road superstructures consist of three layers. Different geosynthetic are modeled with the finite element program, PLAXIS, to examine the modeling results. By application of Geogrids as different layers of the road, the amount of settlement decreases significantly. It can be seen that the most reduction occurs in application of three geogrids in soil profile though the total displacement decreases by increasing the number of geogrids. On theother hand, it can be concluded that application of geotextiles does not affect the settlement regardless of the layer numbers. Moreover, it can be concluded that the order of soil layers does not have any significant effect on the settlement rate.