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Use of Polypropylene Fibres for Cohesive Soil Stabilization

Chapter · January 2020

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0890-5_34

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Trudeep Nitinchandra Dave Nirmal Patolia

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Use of Polypropylene Fibres
for Cohesive Soil Stabilization

Trudeep N. Dave, Dhavalkumar Patel, Gafur Saiyad

and Nirmal Patolia

Abstract Rapidly increasing infrastructure demands more ground availability to

transfer the stresses safely. Scarcity of good bearing soil at infrastructure site
requires improvement/modification in the soil properties to allow further con-
struction activity mainly in fine-grained soils. This paper presents application of
polypropylene fibres (PPF) for stabilization of expansive soil procured from
Bhestan near Surat, South Gujarat. During the study, PPF in proportion of 0.75, 1.5,
2.0, 2.25 and 2.5% have been mixed randomly with soil. Various tests were per-
formed to study compaction characteristics, soaked California bearing ratio
(CBR) and unconfined compression of virgin soil samples and soil samples with
above-mentioned PPF contents. Results showed that addition of PPF reduced
maximum dry density in the range of 3–6.5% and increased optimum moisture
content in the range of 2.3–5.25%. Also, mixing of PPF (10 mm fibre length) up to
2.25% increased soil CBR from 1.54 to 5.75%, which decreased on further addition
of PPF. Increase in PPF fibre length from 10 to 30 mm further increased CBR from
5.75 to 7.06% for same PPF content. In addition, the unconfined compressive
strength of the soil was observed to increase by 56.9% at 2.25% PPF. Results
highlighted that soil stabilization using PPF is quite useful for modifying properties
of cohesive soil.

Keywords Polypropylene fibres Soil stabilization Cohesive soil Experimental

study

T. N. Dave (&) D. Patel G. Saiyad N. Patolia

Department of Civil Engineering, Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research
and Management (IITRAM), Ahmedabad, India
e-mail: trudeepdave@iitram.ac.in

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 409

A. Prashant et al. (eds.), Advances in Computer Methods
and Geomechanics, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 56,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0890-5_34
410 T. N. Dave et al.

1 Introduction

Earlier studies related to soil reinforcement were primarily focused on the use of
metallic and polymeric strips and geosynthetics elements. Effectiveness of these
reinforcements was observed in various forms such as strips, bars, discs and mesh.
In past three decades, the engineering behaviour of randomly distributed, discrete,
flexible and fibre-reinforced soils has been studied in significant detail by many
researchers worldwide. Most of these studies are based on the laboratory and
small-scale tests such as direct shear tests, triaxial compression tests, unconfined
compression tests, compaction tests, California bearing ratio (CBR) tests and plate
load tests. McGown et al. [1] investigated polymeric mesh reinforcement in
coarse-grained soil and observed the improvement in strength of the soil at all strain
levels. Experimental findings by Fletcher and Humphries [2] indicated that there is
an optimum fibre dosage as well as an optimum configuration for improving a CBR
value of compacted soil. Puppala and Musenda [3] recommended the use of
polypropylene fibre in civil engineering because it causes significant improvement
in the compressive and shear strength of the soil. Babu and Vasudevan [4] con-
ducted triaxial compression test on soils reinforced with coir fibres. It was observed
that deviator stress at failure increases up to 3.5 times compared to unreinforced soil
and maximum stress increase was observed for fibres of length between 15 and
25 mm. Further, soil stiffness increased considerably due to fibre inclusion which
may reduce immediate settlement of soil.
Malekzadeh and Bilsel [5] concluded that for enhancing physical and mechan-
ical properties of subsoils of roads and light buildings on expansive soils, the use of
polypropylene fibres might be an effective method. Pradhan et al. [6] studied the
effectiveness of polypropylene fibres for stabilization of black cotton soil.
Experiments were performed to study swelling characteristics, Atterberg’s limits
and unconfined compressive strength. It was concluded that for fibre-reinforced
soil, optimum moisture content and maximum dry density of soil are significantly
affected due to addition of polypropylene fibre. Zaimoglu and Yetimoglu [7]
conducted a series of unconfined compression tests to investigate the effects of
randomly distributed polypropylene (PP) fibre reinforcement (length 12 mm and
diameter 0.05 mm) on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of a fine-grained
(MH) soil. The study observed an increase of 85% in unconfined compressive
strength of reinforced soil, which might be due to the bridging effect of fibre which
can efficiently impede the further development of failure planes and deformation of
the soil. The strength characteristics of fibre-reinforced soil is significantly governed
by interfacial shear resistance of the fibre–soil interface, which is primarily affected
by friction, bonding force, matrix suction and interface morphologies [8]. Shukla
[9] listed soil characteristics, fibre characteristics, fibre concentration, type of
admixtures, fibre mixing method, type and amount of compaction and test condi-
tions as factors affecting engineering behaviour of fibre-reinforced soils.
Past studies have highlighted the effectiveness of PP fibres to improve properties
of cohesive soils. Keeping in view the importance of use of fibre reinforcement, this
Use of Polypropylene Fibres for Cohesive Soil Stabilization 411

study is aimed at studying the effects of fibre length and its concentration on
compaction characteristics, CBR and unconfined compressive strength of
fibre-reinforced soil compared to unreinforced soil.

2 Experimental Program

In this study, the soil sample was collected from dedicated freight corridor
(DFC) project site at Bhestan village near Surat, South Gujarat. Experiments were
performed to evaluate various properties of the soil as listed in Table 1. As per
unified soil classification system (USCS), the soil was classified as CH.
Commercially available polypropylene fibres (Fig. 1) were used in this study
and properties are listed in Table 2. The fibres were mixed manually with soils to
ensure homogeneous mixture of soil and fibres.

Table 1 Properties of soil Property Value

used in this study
Specific Gravity (G ) 2.74
Free swell index 60%
Degree of expansiveness Very high
Liquid limit 59.82%
Plasticity index 28.83%
Shrinkage limit 16.7%
Maximum dry density 15.1 kN/m
Optimum moisture content 21%
Soil Type (as per USCS) CH

Fig. 1 Polypropylene fibres

used in this study
412 T. N. Dave et al.

Table 2 Properties of PP Property Value

fibres used in this study
Density 0.91 gm/cc
Diameter 0.05 mm
Tensile strength 280 MPa
Tensile modulus 3.3 GPa
Tensile elongation 350%
Molar mass 42.08/mol
Obtained from manufacturer

A series of tests were conducted to obtain the effect of fibre concentration on the
properties of fibre-reinforced soil. Tests to observe compaction characteristics,
penetration resistance through California bearing ratio (CBR) test and unconfined
compression strength were performed at fibre concentration of 0, 0.75, 1.5, 2.0,
2.25 and 2.5%. Second series of experiments were performed to analyze effect of
length of fibre on the above-mentioned properties of soil at optimum fibre con-
centration. Third series of experiments were conducted to investigate effectiveness
of fibres on stress–strain behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil.

3 Results and Discussion

Effect of fibre concentration on compaction characteristics of fibre-reinforced soil is

shown in Fig. 2. It is observed that as the percentage of fibre content increases, the
maximum dry density decreases and optimum moisture content increases. The
maximum dry density reduced from 15.1 to 14.57 g/cc with addition of fibres in
range of 0–2.5% and optimum moisture content increased from 21 to 22.1%. The

Fig. 2 OMC and MDD comparison of unreinforced and reinforced soil

Use of Polypropylene Fibres for Cohesive Soil Stabilization 413

Fig. 3 CBR results for varying % of PP fibres

reduction in maximum dry density may be due to the reduction in unit weight of
soil due to addition of fibres and creation of additional pore space by fibre addition.
The increase in the optimum moisture content may also be due to creation of
additional pore spaces and/or due to additional specific surface area available in
fibre-reinforced soil as compared to unreinforced soil.
Soaked CBR tests were performed to observe the effect of fibre reinforcement on
penetration resistance offered by the soil by using 10 mm long fibres. As presented
in Fig. 3, CBR corresponding to unreinforced soil was found as 1.54% for 2.5 mm
penetration and the maximum penetration resistance of 6.1% for 2.5 mm penetra-
tion was corresponding to 2.25% fibre concentration. The increase in the CBR
value by about 300% may be due to the increase in the interfacial shear strength due
to the addition of fibres. Further, it can be observed that by increasing the per-
centage of fibre content up to 1.5%, the CBR value increases by 289% while further
increase in fibre content from 1.5 to 2.25%, the increment in CBR value is 5% only.
Considering the cost aspect, addition of 1.5% PP fibres by weight is optimum for
improvement in penetration resistance.CBR tests were also performed at 2.25%
fibre content corresponding to OMC-MDD, i.e., 2.25% by varying the length of the
fibres as shown in Fig. 4. The results pointed out that on increasing the length of PP
fibre from 10 mm length to 20 mm, CBR increases from 6.1 to 6.88% and CBR
value for 30 mm fibre length is 7.08%. It can be concluded that as the length of fibre
increases from 10 to 30 mm, the CBR value increased by 14% only revealing
limited change in CBR by increasing the length of fibre.
Results of unconfined compression tests are shown in Fig. 5. Unconfined
compressive strength of reinforced soil sample was observed to increase from 20.8
to 48.4 kPa by addition of 10 mm PP fibres at 2.25% concentration. It indicates that
unconfined compressive strength increases by 132% by the addition of 2.25%
polypropylene fibre of 10 mm length. Further increase in fibre content reduced the
unconfined compressive strength of soil. It indicates that addition of 2.25%
414 T. N. Dave et al.

Fig. 4 CBR results for varying length of 2.25% PP fibre-reinforced soil

Fig. 5 Stress–strain behaviour of UCS sample for varying % of PP fibres

polypropylene fibre of 10 mm length gives maximum unconfined compressive

strength. However, the addition of fibre content from 0 to 1.5% increased uncon-
fined compressive strength by 119% while for increase in fibre content from 1.5 to
2.25%, addition of polypropylene fibre strength increase only by 10%, so 1.5%
addition of polypropylene fibre by weight is optimum with respect to cost. In
addition, it can be observed that addition of fibre content increased the % axial
strain corresponding to failure, which indicates an increase in the ductility of
fibre-reinforced soil.
Use of Polypropylene Fibres for Cohesive Soil Stabilization 415

Fig. 6 Stress–strain behaviour of UCS sample for varying fibre length

Tests were also performed at 2.25% fibre content by varying length of the fibres
to observe the effect of length of fibres on unconfined compressive strength of the
soil specimen as shown in Fig. 6. It can be observed that with increase in the length
of fibre from 10 to 30 mm, the unconfined compression strength increased by 6%
only. The study highlights limited significance of increase in length of fibres on
unconfined compression strength.
In addition, unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests were performed on unrein-
forced soil samples and soil sample reinforced at 2.25% fibre content. Mohr’s circle
obtained for both the cases are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. It has been observed that
the addition of fibres increases the cohesion (c) of soil from 26 to 35 kPa while the
angle of internal friction (/) increases from 5° (nominal value of friction angle) to

Fig. 7 Mohr’s circles corresponding to unreinforced soil

416 T. N. Dave et al.

Fig. 8 Mohr’s circles corresponding to 2.25% PP fibre-reinforced soil

21.2°. Hence, the addition of 2.25% of fibre content results in an increase in

cohesion by 34.61% and friction angle by 15.2°. The increase in friction angle for
PP fibre-reinforced soil may be attributed to the interlocking friction effect induced
by the fibres. However, further studies are required to understand the associated
mechanism. Hence, it can be concluded that use of fibres to reinforce the soil
improves both shear strength parameters c and /.

4 Conclusions

• Use of polypropylene fibres reduced maximum dry density in the range of

3–6.5% and increased optimum moisture content in the range of 2.3–5.25%.
• Addition of PP fibres increased CBR corresponding to 2.5 mm penetration by
up to 300%. At optimum fibre content of 1.5%, the increase in CBR was about
289%.
• The unconfined compressive strength increased by 119% due to the addition of
1.5% PP fibres. Further, increase in fibre content from 1.5 to 2.25% increased
UCS by only 10%.
• As the length of fibre increases from 10 to 30 mm, the unconfined compressive
strength increases by 6%.
• Addition of fibre content increased the % axial strain corresponding to failure
thereby enhances the ductile behaviour of soil and is expected to reduce the
shrinkage settlement during desiccation which would help in reducing the
detrimental damages to supported structure. Results pointed out limited
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Use of Polypropylene Fibres for Cohesive Soil Stabilization 417

significance of increase in length of fibres on CBR values. Based on this study,

1.5% PP fibre is observed to be optimum for improving soil properties.
• With the addition of 2.25% of polypropylene fibres in the soil, an increase in the
value of cohesion was 34.61% and angle of friction increases from 15.2°.

References

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distributed mesh elements. In: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on soil
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2. Fletcher CS, Humphries WK (1991) California bearing ratio improvement of remoulded soils
by the addition of polypropylene fibre reinforcement. Transp Res Rec 1295, Washington DC,
80–86
3. Puppala AJ, Musenda C (2002) Effect of fibre reinforcement on strength and volume change in
expansive soils. Transp Res Rec 0716, Washington DC, 134–140
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