Materials

Materials

 Soil or Fill material

 Reinforcement system

 A Facing if necessary
Materials – Soil or Fill

 Cohesionless Fill (Frictional/granular)

– Well graded
– Non-corrosive
– Good angle of shearing resistance
Materials – Soil or Fill – Cohesionless fill

 Angle of internal friciton > 25 deg

• (30 to 32 deg for design)

 % fines < 15%

 Uniformity coefficient > 5

Materials – Soil or Fill – Cohesionless fill

 Gradation

Sieve Size 125 mm 90 mm 10 mm 600 µ 75 µ

% passing 100 85 - 100 25 -100 10 - 65 0 - 10

Materials – Soil or Fill – Cohesionless fill

 Advantages
– Stability
– Free draining
– Relatively non-corrosive

 Limitation
– Costly
Materials – Soil or Fill – Cohesive frictional fill

Cohesive frictional fill

 passing 75 µ > 10%

 LL < 45%
 PL < 20%
 Ø > 20 deg
Materials – Soil or Fill – cohesive frictional fill

 Gradation

Sieve Size 125 mm 90 mm 10 mm 600 µ 75 µ 2µ

% passing 100 85 - 100 25 -100 11 - 100 11-100 0-10

Materials – Soil or Fill

 Cohesive Fill – Unsuitable

Poor bond
Aggressive
Susceptible to frost action
Economical in embankment with geofabrics and geogrids

 Waste Materials
– Mine waste
– Pulverised fuel ash
Materials - Reinforcement

Reinforcement

 Strips
 Planks
 Grids
 Sheet
Materials - Reinforcement

 Stell
 Alumnium
 Glass fibre
 Wood
 Rubber
 Concrete
 Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics

GEOFOAM
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics
Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics

GEOPIPE
 Materials – Reinforcement - Geosynthetics

Type of
Geosynthetic Separation Reinforcement Filtration Drainage Containment

geotextile    
geogrid 
geonet 
geomembrane 
geosynthetic 
clay liner
geopipe 
geofoam 
geocomposite     
Materials - Facing

Facing
 Erosion
 Architectural
Materials - Facing

 Concrete precast slabs - inexpensive

 Brick or masonry – small structures
 Geofabrics – vandalism and rodents
 Galvanised steel
 vegetation

 Aluminium, prestressed concrete, plastics,

stainless steel