Model Double Footing Tests of a
Reinforced Organic Soil
NorAzazi Zakaria
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Model Double Footing Tests of a
NorAzazi Zakaria |
Abstract
Organic soils are compressible soils possessing high moisture contents. In Malaysia these types of soils can be found in abundance especially in the state of Perak. The need for constructing a temporary road over these types of soils made it necessary to investigate the behavior of such soils when subjected to loading.
A new approach using a double footing to apply the loads was devised in this research program of reinforced unpaved roads constructed over organic soils.
The approach adopted in this series of tests was a simple one consisting of monotonic loading of a subbase-subgrade system at ¼ full scale inside a model test box.
Load penetration double-footing tests were performed with four different geotextiles that vary in their tensile strengths. Each geotextile was tested with two fill thicknesses.
The results of the double-footing tests would later be used to assess the accuracy of two analytical models; Burd’s and Love’s analytical models, which are used for the design of reinforced unpaved roads.
It was found that the analytical solutions given by Burd and Love estimate accurately the reinforced system’s stiffness when using the double footing.
When using the double footing, it has been seen also that the bearing capacity of the soil markedly increases with the increase of the geosynthetic tensile strength, which is seen to be the dominating factor.
Keywords: Model footings, reinforced earth, experiments
