Soil Confinement

Dr.A.Boominathan
IIT Madras
 Concept of confinement
 Confinement of particulate materials allows the mobilization
of internal friction which contributes to the stability of the
structure

 Concepts of reinforcement and confinement are closely

related

 In triaxial specimen, horizontal layers of foil provides lateral

confining stress.

 Lateral confinement results in either added cohesion or

increased friction angle

 Confinement may be produced either by internal inclusions or

external formwork, supports or abutments.
 Concept of confinement (contd..)
 Internal inclusions:
◦ Strips in RE earthwall provide horizontal
internal confinement
◦ Rock bolt provides internal and transverse
confining stress
 External confinements:
◦ Crib walls and Gabion walls
◦ These gravity structures created by
interlocking forms containing granular
materials
 CRIB WALL
 Crib walls: Individual concrete, timber or steel
element interconnected to form a boxlike
lattice structure filled with soil.

Crib wall under High concrete crib wall

construction
CRIB WALL (contd…)

Standard Crib wall

CRIB WALL (contd…)

 Advantages of Crib wall

◦ High Flexibility
 Able to adjust to differential settlement and slope
movement
◦ Elemental Construction
 Facilitates transportation of materials and reduces
required work skills
◦ Aesthetically pleasing appearance
◦ Permeability
 No pore pressure buildup, reduced frost
susceptibility
LOADING DIAGRAM FOR CRIB WALL

Load acting on a crib wall

Earth pressure on the back of a

stepped double cell wall
STABILITY OF CRIB WALL
 EXTERNAL STABILITY
◦ Overturning
 Resultant force on the base should lie within the middle
quarter of the section

 Because of elemental construction, crib walls do not

actually overturn, but sections of the wall may shift
outward

◦ Sliding
 Crib wall usually tilted towards backfill

 Sloped footing increases the resistance against sliding

 EXTERNAL STABILITY (contd…)

 Bearing capacity:
◦ Analogous to an eccentrically loaded footing
◦ Assume monolithic behavior of wall

 Global slope Stability:

◦ Stability is analyzed using method of slices
◦ Slip circles shearing through the wall may be
critical, particularly where there is a change from
one to multiple rows of crib cells
 INTERNAL PRESSURES
 Crib elements have to be dimensioned to withstand internal
stresses transmitted at nodes
 According to silo theory, the vertical pressure σvz at depth z inside
the cell is given by:


 vz     c
U

 zo 1  e
x

 A

Silo pressure due to infill K= 1-sin ϕ

INTERNAL PRESSURES (contd…)
 This silo pressure σvz is taken as the design
pressure for crib elements
 The effect Δpvz from any vertical surcharge po
directly applied to the crib wall has to be added to
σvz
p  p e
vz o
y

U
y   z K tan 
A
 INTERNAL PRESSURES (contd…)

 The total inside

pressure is

 vztot
   p
vz vz

 The corresponding
inside horizontal
pressure on the crib
elements is

 hztot
K
o vztot
 CONSTRUCTION ASPECTS OF CRIB WALL

 Infill should be compacted in layers so that the density is

equivalent to 95 to 97% standard proctor density

 Lower density could reduce the stability, high compactive

effort could increase the stresses in elements

 The maximum particle size should be less than one sixth

of the cell width and there should be less than 15% fines

 These conditions ensure desirable soil-crib interaction and

adequate drainage
GABION AND MATTRESSES
 Gabion and mattresses are wire baskets filled with rock
 Typical dimensions of gabion: 1 m high, 1 m deep, and 2 to 4
m long
 Mattress are units which are thinner but larger in area:
6 by 2 m and 0.25 m high
 Individual units are wired together to form larger structures
 Meshes: 2 to 3 mm diameter wire, with openings of 60 to
100 mm
 Meshes are galvanized or coated with PVC for protection
against corrosion
 GABION AND MATTRESSES (contd..)
 Filling: Durable rock fragments or river cobbles
exceeding the mesh size but not larger than about half
the depth of individual basket
 Gabions and mattresses are mostly used for building
gravity structures and as erosion resistant linings
 Advantages:
◦ Flexibility (suits different site geometry)
◦ Permeability (High capacity drainage system)
◦ Low level of work skill required
◦ Low cost
Gabion Wall Construction Gabion Wall for Channel stabilization

Gabion Mattress for

channel lining
GABION WALL

• Depending on the
properties and slope of the
backfill, the base of gabion
wall may range from 50 to
90% of its height
• It’s a common practice to
tilt the wall backward at an
angle of about 6̊
 GABION WALL (contd…)
 The coefficient of active earth pressure Ka
according to coulomb theory is:

Where α – Inclination of the back face of the

wall
β – Slope of the backfill
 Generally, wall friction angle δ = Internal friction
angle of soil (ф)
 GABION WALL (contd…)
 Design aims for a minimal safety factor of 1.5 with
respect to overturning or sliding
 The resultant on the base should act within its middle
third to prevent theoretical lift-off at the heel
 Maximum base pressure should not exceed the
allowable bearing pressure of soil
 For high walls of stepped construction, the safety
against shear failure at intermediate levels should also
be checked
 Applications of Gabions & Mattresses

 Typical applications include the protection of

◦ River beds, banks and lake shores
◦ Canal linings
◦ Bridge piers and abutments
◦ Inlet and outlet works at culverts

 Mattresses from 0.15 to 0.5 m thick can be laid on

slopes as steep as 1:1.25.
 Steeper slope requires stepwise construction
 Construction & Maintenance Aspects
Checklist
 Loss of rock
◦ If loss is excessive, replacement of rock or overlay such as slurry
concrete is required

 Loss of shape
◦ Gabions subjected to high water impact, lose their shape. Hence
their stability should be assessed regularly

 Torn & Abraded Mesh

◦ Tears should be mended and rocks replaced where necessary

 Inadequate anchoring
 GEOCELLS
 Geocells are manufactured as 3-D sheets of HDPE
membranes that are compact, collapsed bundled units.
 When stretched out (typically to 6.6 m length), the
“sheets” form a series of individual cells into which soil is
placed and compacted
 GEOCELLS (contd…)

 Infilled soil is confined by the

cells provides significant load-
bearing, lateral load resistance,
and erosion resistance
 Geocells have the advantage of
providing adequate support for
many applications using local
on-site soils.
 Geocells provide a significant
cost savings compared to other
retaining wall types

Comparison of distribution and lateral transfer

of tire loads with cellular confinement: (a)
unconfined; (b) confined.
GEOCELLS (contd…)

Relative costs for various earth retention walls

 GEOCELLS (contd…)
 Geocell confinement systems are used for rapidly installed load

support for emergency and temporary roadways in loose sandy sites.

 Other load-support applications include

base stabilization for paved roads,

surface stabilization for unpaved roads,

support of railroad ballast, and

foundation support for embankments constructed over soft soils.

 Geocells have also been used very effectively in single sheets as

erosion control for protection of slopes and channels.

 GEOCELLS (contd…)

Geocell walls: (a) gravity wall; (b) geosynthetic reinforced wall

 GEOCELLS (contd…)

Geocells used in rapid road construction for military mobilization in desert

environments

Geocell reinforcement over

weak foundation soils