Presentation case study of

Geosynthetic used in Road

construction.
Prepared by: VIRAT DESAI
CASE STUDY 1 : Effect of Geosynthetic on the
Performance of Road Embankment over Sabkha
Soils in Algeria
• Location : Chott El Hodna section of highway road in the Algeria.
• Material: Geogrid and Geotextile.
• Software: PLAXIS.
• Conidiation of soil : Sabkha.
 These soils are coastal and inland saline deposits that are formed in arid regions.
Project overview
• The case study concerns the construction of the road embankment
linking the two towns of Ain El Khadra and M’Cif which extend for
approximately 23 km. This road crosses a section of about 11 km on
the sabkha of Chott El Hodna located in the north middle part of
Algeria.
Problem
• In their in situ states, the sabkha soils have high compressibility and low
bearing capacity. Sabkha soils are very sensitive to moisture whereby
complete collapse and large reduction in the bearing capacity are
anticipated when these soils are in contact with water.
• Subsurface conditions within the sabkha consist of a brown muddy clay
layer, underlain by a grey marl layer results of undisturbed samples
obtained from borehole of about 20 m depth show that the compression
index Cc varying from 0.30 to 0.56, the plasticity index Ip varying from 27.5
to 48.5 and the dry density varying between 1.38 and 1.64 indicating high
soil compressibility. The undrained shear strengths of the layers of brown
muddy clay and grey marl vary from 9 to 30 kPa. In the sabkha center, the
thickness of the very soft layers may reach 10 m depth.
Solution:
• Different methods were proposed to improve the engineering
properties of sabkha soils located from the Chott El Hodna, Algeria.
chemical stabilization using cement and lime.
 soil replacement.
Geotextile: The geotextile is used to separate the subsoil and the
embankment aggregate.
 Geogrid: The reinforcement by geogrid layer is used to increase the stiffness
of the foundation, improve the compaction quality, and carry the tension
forces induced by embankment weight on the subsoil.
 For the embankment, a sandy gravel material was chosen to allow free
drainage of the foundation soils and reducing the pore pressure build-up
below the embankment.
Continue:
• Laying directly over sabkha surface a nonwoven separating geotextile
to prevent the contamination of embankment fill, facilitate the
implementation of the first layer of embankment and allow
construction equipment's to access to sites where the sabkha soils
are too weak to support the initial construction work.

Laying directly over sabkha surface a nonwoven geotextile.

a Dry state. b Flooded state
Continue:
• Construction of the first lift of 30 cm thickness with static compaction until
obtaining a plane surface.
• Laying a biaxial geogrid layer over the first lift to uplift the tensile strength to the
embankment base.
• Construction of the embankment in layers with compaction control by static plate
load test.
• Installation of the reinforced HDPE hydraulic tubes of 1000 mm diameter at 20
cm above the sabkha ground surface in order to compensate the remaining
consolidation settlement. These tubes particularly have the advantages:
flexibility, easy installation and less sensitivity to sabkha soil aggressivity.
• Protection of embankment slopes and tube edges against erosion with separate
geotextile and riprap.
• Laying the unbound base course and surface dressing wearing course which
absorbs the deformations better than the asphalt concrete.
Continue:

Reinforcement and protection

of the road embankment.

Laying the biaxial geogrid over the first lift of

embankment.
Numerical Modelling:
• The analysis was performed using the finite element program PLAXIS
software package.
• The geosynthetic (geotextile and geogrid) was represented using a 5-
node tension element in PLAXIS. The only material property required
for the geosynthetic is the tensile stiffness ‘‘EA’’ which is used in this
analysis as 580 kN/m for the geogrid and 50 kN/m for geotextile.
These values were chosen in accordance with the manufacturer’s
manual of the products.
Continue:
• The analysis was carried out according to the construction sequence
of the embankment in the field. Three steps were followed in this
simulation.
 In the first step the initial effective stresses at rest due to soil self weight are generated.
 Secondly, the geotextile separation, the first layer of embankment of 0.3 m thick, the
geogrid reinforcement and the second layer of embankment of 0.3 m thick are activated.
 In the third step, to simulate the membrane effect of geosynthetic reinforcement on a
wheel load, a downward displacement increment was applied to the area representing
the double wheel until reaching 10 cm corresponding to the allowable rut in this project.
Simultaneously, the resultant load is recorded.
Result's of numerical modeling
• This Figure shows the effect of
geosynthetics on the bearing capacity
after the construction of the two first lifts
of embankment. The asymptotic limiting
value corresponds to the ultimate bearing
capacity for the unreinforced case.
However, the bearing capacity increases
with displacement for the reinforced
case. As shown in Fig. the maximum
bearing capacity increases from 62.37
kN/m2 (without reinforcement) to 115.52
kN/m2 (with reinforcement), an increase
of about 85 %. This improvement of the
bearing capacity has been very beneficial
for the progress and compaction control.

Effect of geosynthetics on the improvement

of bearing capacity
Continue:
• Figure shows the variation of the
bearing capacity improvement
with the undrained cohesion Cu
of the subgrade. It is noted that
the improvement is more
significant for low Cu values. This
improvement decreases with the
increase of Cu and becomes
practically negligible for Cu
greater than 70 kN/m2 since the
subgrade can resist the applied
loads.
Influence of undrained cohesion Cu on the bearing
capacity improvement
Continue:
• The Influence of the geogrid tensile
stiffness EA on the bearing capacity
improvement is illustrated in Fig.
13. It can be seen that the bearing
capacity improvement significantly
increases up to EA = 500 kN/m
corresponding to 80 % of
improvement. The degree of the
improvement in the bearing
capacity gradually decreases as EA
increases from 500 to 8000 kN/m.
For EA greater than 8000 kN/m,
the bearing capacity improvement
remains approximately constant.
Influence of geogrid tensile stiffness EA on the
bearing capacity improvement
Interpretation of case study:
 From soil observation and investigation, the present sabkha subsurface is dominated by muddy clay very
sensitive in wet conditions. The flood of the sabkha site reduces the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) to values
less than 1 %.
 In the present project, without separating geotextile it was not possible to prevent the mixing of the first
aggregate lift and the soft subgrade.
 The need of reinforced embankment by geotextile separation and geogrid was well highlighted by
numerical computations and confirmed by the difficulty encountered in the construction of the first
embankment lift and the improvement of the compaction performance.
 Numerical computations of the present project show an improvement of about 85 % in the bearing capacity
of reinforced embankment for rut up to 10 cm and subgrade undrained cohesion about 10 kN/m2. This
improvement has been very beneficial for the progress and compaction quality.
 Numerical results show that the improvement in the bearing capacity is more significant for low subgrade
undrained cohesion and decreases with the increase of the undrained cohesion and becomes practically
negligible for undrained cohesion beyond 70 kN/m2.
 The effect of the geogrid tensile stiffness on the bearing capacity improvement is more sensitive up to 500
kN/m corresponding to 80 % of improvement.
CASE STUDY 2 : Geogrid Reinforced Soil Walls
With Segmental Panel Facia.
• Location: Vadodara – Bharuch Section of NH-8 in the State of Gujarat.
• Material Used: Geogrid, Non-woven Geotextile
Salient Features of the Reinforced Soil Walls:
• Wall Facing Area: 68,323 sq. m.
• Wall Height: 10m.
• Soil Reinforcement: Knitted & PVC coated polyester Geogrids with
Tensile Strength of 40 to 250 KN/m.
• Facing: Segmental Panel Fascia.
• Design Methodology: BS 8006: 1995 (Static Condition).
• FHWA-NHI-00-043 (Seismic Condition).
Project Overview:
• In this project , eleven flyovers and one vehicular underpass for
reinforced soil work using geosynthic approaches.
• Total stretch length of the project was around 70 Km, which starts
from Vadodara city to Bharuch city in Gujarat, India.
Problem:
• Area is located, where the black cotton soil is available up to the
depth of 3 to 8m. It was difficult to achieve required safe nearing
capacity at the depth to 1 to 1.5 meter. Maximum height of the
reinforced soil wall is 10 meter as it has to connect the ROB’s as well
as Flyover’s.
• ROB : ROAD OVER BRIDGES.
Solution:
• Detailed soil investigation has been carried out to know the actual extent of black cotton soil.
• Area, where the depth of soil is up to 2.0 to 2.5 meter has been replaced with good quality
granular fill.
• Other areas, where the depth of black cotton soil is on higher side, it has been replaced up-to 2.5
meter, then provide the plate form with the layers of Geosynthetic material with granular fill with
maximum of 500mm to 750mm.
• Over the plate form levelling pad has been placed for the erection work. Also to ensure the
increased safe bearing capacity, plate load test has been done for verification.
• The borehole and foundation soil test report showed existence of black cotton soil in the area
where the RS Wall was to be constructed. Thereby experts’ advice was taken and multi layers of
good soil were provided by excavating the black cotton soil to achieve the required safe bearing
capacity that will be sufficient to withstand the bearing pressure exerted by the weight of the
infill and other external loads.
• The design of the walls was carried out using the BS 8006: 1995 for Static Condition & FHWANHI-
00-043 for Seismic Condition, which comprised checks for external, internal and global stability
under static and seismic conditions.
Reference:
• Al-Amoudi OSB, Abduljauwad SN, El-Naggar ZR, Rasheeduzzafar M
(1992) Response of sabkha to laboratory tests: a case study. Eng Geol
33:111–125.
• Vinod P, Minu M (2010) Use of coir geotextiles in unpaved road
construction. Geosynth Int 17(4):220–227.
• Palmeira EM, Antunes LGS (2010) Large scale tests on geosynthetic
reinforced unpaved roads subjected to surface maintenance. Geotext
Geomembr 28(6):547–558.
• Ravi K, Dash SK, Vogt S, Braeu G (2014) Behaviour of geosynthetic
reinforced unpaved roads under cyclic loading. Indian Geotech J
44(1):77–85.