GEOSYNTHETICS AND

REINFORCED SOIL STRUCTURES

Prof K. Rajagopal
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Madras, Chennai 600 036
e-mail: gopalkr@iitm.ac.in
 OUTLINE OF THE LECTURE

• Introductory remarks
• Historical background
• Types and functions of geosynthetics

Geosynthetics - Introduction 2/48

 What is a geosynthetic ?
• Natural or artificial product that is used along
with soil in geotechnical constructions.

• Natural: coir, jute, hemp, etc.

• Artificial: p
polymeric
y or metallic

Geosynthetics - Introduction 3/48

 Why geosynthetics ?

• Geosynthetics have entirely changed the way

geotechnical engineering is practiced.
practiced
• Innovative solutions to solve difficult problems
economically and expediently
• Enables the use of local materials – sustainable
solutions
• Unskilled labour can be employed
• Installation does not require heavy machinery

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Use of coir mat to
promote vegetation
growth to prevent
surface erosion

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Use of stone filled rope net gabions for shoreline stabilization at
S
Swami i Narain
N i Temple,
T l Tithal,
Tith l Gujarat
G j t
Geosynthetics - Introduction 6/48
 Irrigation canal lining by
using grout filled geocells

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 Narrow
stretch of
road

22m high geosynthetic soil retaining wall to widen a ghat road at Vijayawada

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 Landfill construction using geosynthetics
at HZL,
HZL Visakhapatnam to contain jerosite waste

Geosynthetics - Introduction 9/48

Flexible Break water unit made of
geosynthetics
th ti – beach
b h sandd filled
fill d
bags in rope net gabions
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 REINFORCED SOIL

• Soil + reinforcement = reinforced soil

• Reinforcement:
Ancient: Tree branches, grass reeds, straw, roots of
vegetation bamboo
vegetation, bamboo, tree trunks
Modern: Steel, polymeric, natural materials
• Soil is strong in compression & reinforcement is strong
in tension
• Combined product has much better engineering
properties than the individual constituents
• Reinforced soil concept is similar to that of reinforced
concrete
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 HISTORICAL
APPLICATIONS OF
REINFORCED SOIL

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IS BEAVER THE FIRST CIVIL
ENGINEER ?
• Semi-aquatic rodent
• Expert
E pert builder
b ilder of Under
Underwater
ater d
dwellings/dams
ellings/dams
• Its dwellings use natural reinforcements

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 Ziggurats of Mesopotamia
• A
Agar-Quf
Q f ziggurat,
i t • Constructed of clay
near Baghdad – 3000 bricks 130-400 mm high,
years
yea soold
d reinforced with woven
matst off reed
d laid
l id
• Originally believed to horizontally on a layer of
be 80 m tall, now it is sand and gravel at
40
0 m high vertical spacing of 0.5 to
2m
• Reeds were also used to
form plaited ropes
approximately 100 mm
in diameter which pass
through the structure
andd actt as reinforcement
i f t
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 Ziggurats of Mesopotamia
((source from Reco web site))
15/48
 Great Wall of China
7th century
y BC to about 17th century
y AD

Sections in eastern China were mainly made

with bricks and chiseled stones, those in
western China were made with less durable
materials (often with clay or pounded earth
reinforced with tree branches).

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Geosynthetics - Introduction 17/48
Geosynthetics - Introduction 18/48
 Adobe Bricks
A man making adobe bricks in the
Draa Valley town of Tamgroute,
southern Morocco,
Similar bricks were also manufactured by Incas and
Aztecs in American continents
Geosynthetics - Introduction
Adobe is derived from the
Arab word, "at-tub," referring
to the earth bricks Arabs made
as early as 7000 BC.
These early builders realised
was that if straw, which has a
goodd tensile
il strength
h was
embedded in a block of mud,
which has good compressive
strength
g and left to dryy the
resulting brick would resist
both tearing and squeezing.
These composite bricks made
excellent building materials.
materials
19/48
 Applications of reinforced soil in
R
Rurall Indian
I di constructions
t ti

In rural India,
India mud walls are traditionally built
with bamboo mats – another fine example of
reinforced soil application from early days

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 Early applications in last century

• Corduroy mats for forest access roads in

South Carolina 1920’s
1920 s
• Filter fabrics used by Terzaghi
• Polyvinyl bags for sea walls in Japan
instead of straw bags
• Geotextile tubes for dykes in Netherlands
• Polymer meshes/membranes in Europe

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 Henri Vidal (re)invents
Reinforced Earth in 1963

The concept of
reinforced soil was
Henri Vidal accidentally thought
French Engineer &
Architect about by Mr. Vidal while
playing with his children
on a beach
An early form of Reinforced
Earth using steel strip
reinforcement
i f t andd steel
t l
membrane facing

1963 : Patent filed for

Reinforced Earth
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Basic principle of reinforced earth

Without reinforcement With reinforcement

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Two identical pyramids made of dry sand with and without
reinforcement layers
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Response of Unreinforced Soil Pyramid

Immediate collapse Large deformations

Close-up of foot prints
under load from a even under small load
student
Immediate collapse of unreinforced soil pyramid under
g due to lateral flow of dry
loading y sand

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 Response of Reinforced soil pyramid

Careful initial loading on reinforced Final loading by the same student

pyramid through deadweights standing
t di on it – no visible
i ibl d
deformations
f ti !!!
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 Geotextiles or Geosynthetics ?
• Originally, most of the modern applications used
geotextiles. Hence, all products were erroneously
referred to as geotextiles.
• Even the international society was originally called
as International Geotextile Society. Name of
society changed later to International
G
Geosynthetics
th ti Society.
S i t
• Useful information can be found at website
www.geosyntheticssociety.org
• Society Membership is free for students
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 Graphical symbols proposed by IGS
letter
Symbol symbol product

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 Letter Symbols for
Different Functions of Geosynthetics

B Barrier (fluid)
D Drainage
E Surficial Erosion Control
F Filtration
P Protection (of geomembranes)
R Reinforcement
S Separation

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 Shallow unreinforced
slope

Extra road
space gained

Steep reinforced
slope

Geosynthetic reinforcement layers

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 aggregate layer
geotextile separator

subgrade
soil

Prevents the intermixing,

prevents piping, strength of
aggregate is preserved

Separation Function in a pavement layer

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 Filtration Function

Water coming out without Geotextile layer acting

fine soil particles as a filter

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Surface Erosion protection

Erosion
E i protection
t ti
layer

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 Drainage function of a geotextile layer

ingress
g of water into pavement
p layers
y
flow of water flow of water

drain drain

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 TYPES OF GEOSYNTHETICS
• Geotextiles
• Geogrids
• Geonets
• Geomembranes
• P f b i t d vertical
Pre-fabricated ti l d
drains
i (PVD)
• Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL)
• Geocells (3-d confinement)
• Geocomposites & GeoGeo-others
others
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 Geotextiles
• Engineered sheet like products made of
natural or synthetic materials
• Woven and non-woven types
• Used for separation, drainage, filtration,
erosion control and reinforcement

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 Woven fabric – weave
pattern
tt is
i visible
i ibl

Non-woven
Non woven fabric –
fibres are randomly
oriented
Rao (1995)
Two Types
yp of Geotextiles

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Some pictures of geotextiles
Thin geotextile – used
as separator, filtration

Thick geotextile used

for cushion and
drainage 38/48
 woven non-woven

Natural geotextiles made of jute

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A woven g
geotextile fabric
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Geotextile layer being applied
below railway track

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 Geogrids
• Sheet like products with open apertures. Excellent
interlockingg with soil. High
g strength
g p products,, used for
reinforcement.
• The geogrids are of several varieties. The extruded
grids
id h have llow strengthh ((e.g. Netlon
N l India
I di products).
d )
Stretched grids (e.g. Tensar products) are made by
stretching process.
process More recently several types are
made by knitting, welding process, etc.
• Uniaxial products used as reinforcement layers in
retaining walls and embankments
• Biaxial products used are used in road bases, below
rail tracks
tracks, ground reinforcement
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Geogrids manufactured by stretching process

Orientation of p
polymers
y in p
preferential directions

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St t h d uniaxial
Stretched i i l geogrid
id

Knitted polyester geogrids

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Geogrids used at at Hindustan Zink Limited,
Visakhapatnam

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Geogrid reinforcement in pavements
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Innovative use of geogrids for shore protection at Navi Mumbai

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