Geotech Geol Eng
DOI 10.1007/s10706-016-0028-4
ORIGINAL PAPER
Study on Strength Influence Mechanism of Fiber-Reinforced
Expansive Soil Using Jute
Wang Yixian . Guo Panpan . Shan Shengbiao .
Yuan Haiping . Yuan Binxiang
Received: 24 October 2015 / Accepted: 2 May 2016
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
Abstract This study was undertaken to research the
effects of jute fiber content, fiber length, water content
and dry density of reinforced and unreinforced soil on
the strength influence mechanism by implementing a
series of laboratory tests and analysis. The most
efficient fiber reinforcement effects was achieved by
means of adding jute fiber with content of 0.6 % and
length of 6 mm into expansive soil specimen prepared
at maximum dry density and optimum moisture
content. The cohesion of reinforced specimens
increased first with increasing fiber content and fiber
length and then decreased with further increase in fiber
content and fiber length. The internal friction angle of
reinforced specimens were not affected significantly
by fiber content and fiber length. Higher water content
reduces the fiber reinforcement effects by means of
acting as lubricant in the interface of fiber and soil
particles. Fiber reinforcement effects is more
W. Yixian (&)  G. Panpan  S. Shengbiao 
Y. Haiping (&)
School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of
Technology, Hefei 230009, China
e-mail: wangyixian2012@hfut.edu.cn
Y. Haiping
e-mail: seapie@163.com
Y. Binxiang
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering,
Guangdong University of Technology,
Guangzhou 510006, China
prominent for specimens prepared at higher dry
density by increasing the effective contact area of
fiber/soil. The application prospect of soil reinforce-
ment using natural fiber is impeded by the hydrophilic
nature and biodegradability of natural fiber, thus,
studies on using chemical additive to do surface
treatment for natural fiber are needed to improve the
interfacial interaction of fiber/soil so as to widen the
application of natural fiber.
Keywords Expansive soil  Jute fiber  Strength
parameters  Influence effect  Soil reinforcement
1 Introduction
Soil reinforcement is a reliable and efficient technical
means for the improvement of soil strength and soil
stability, which is significant in ensuring a service-
ability of health, safe and enduring for structures
founded on it or infrastructures such as embankments,
slopes and landfills that constructed using the soil
modified. Geosynthetics including geogrid, geotextile,
geonet and geocell and so on varying in forms and
mechanical properties that oriented in soil matrix in a
particular direction predetermined are widely used in
traditional methods for soil reinforcement, and has
been investigated by many investigators (Juran et al.
1990; Adams and Collin 1997; Han et al. 2012; Fatahi
et al. 2013), however, a potential weak destructive
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sliding surface may occurred along the interface
between Geosynthetics and soil matrix due to the
lower interfacial shear strength compared to that of
plain soil without geosynthetics thus resulting in
catastrophic damage for engineering structures (Eldes-
ouky et al. 2015).
The method of incorporating randomly distributed
discrete fibers into soil matrix for reinforcing soil
originated from ancient times, and, it is inspired
from the natural phenomenon that the interaction
between plant roots and the surrounding superficial
zone soil of a natural slope could protect the slope
from rain wash (Kaniraj and Gayathri 2003; Wu
et al. 1988). Furthermore, compared to the conven-
tional soil reinforcement method mentioned above,
soil reinforced with randomly distributed discrete
fibers possess some unique and crucial advantages
or superiorities. Consequently, randomly distributed
fiber-reinforced soils have recently attracted increas-
ing attention in geotechnical engineering for the
second time which demonstrates a promising pro-
spect for the application of soil reinforcement by
randomly distributed discrete fibers (Sayyed et al.
2012; Sivakumar and Vasudevan 2008; Yetimoglu
and Salbas 2003). In addition, it is necessarily noted
that the mixing and preparation procedures of
randomly distributed discrete fibers reinforced soil
are relatively simpler and easier which are much
similar to the process of adding lime, cement or
other additives into soil mass (Prabakar and Sridhar
2002). What’s more, the formation of potential
planes of weakness that could be developed parallel
to oriented reinforcement are restrained as a result
of the fact that discrete fibers randomly distributed
within soil mass could improve the shear strength of
fiber-reinforced soil in all directions and thus
causing isotropic strength characteristics for soil
reinforced with randomly distributed discrete fibers
(Shao et al. 2014).
Experimental investigations as well as theoretical
analysis on the mechanical response, the predictive
constitutive model, the shear failure criterion, the
mechanism of strength improvement, the effects of
various parameters (i.e. Fiber content, fiber length,
soil dry density, water content, etc.) on the strength
characteristics of soil reinforced with randomly
distributed discrete fibers, the interfacial shear
strength between fibers and soil matrix, the potential
application prospect, the anisotropic behavior
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Geotech Geol Eng
inducing by fiber orientation of fiber-reinforced soil
and so forth have been implemented in the past few
decades (Gray and Ohashi 1983; Chen 2007; Jamei
et al. 2013; Li and Zornberg 2013; Ranjan et al.
1996; Tang et al. 2010; Park and Tan 2005; Kanchi
et al. 2015).
Previous literature review shows that fiber rein-
forcement increases the peak shear strength and
limited post peak reduction in shear resistance of
fiber-reinforced soil. Furthermore, there are more
experimental investigations proving that fiber rein-
forcement possesses noteworthy functions in inhibit-
ing the tensile crack propagation within soil mass
after initial formation, increasing the liquefaction
strength of sand, restraining the swelling tendency
of expansive soils as well as changing the stress–
strain behavior from strain softening to strain
hardening for sandy silt (Marandi et al. 2008;
Ghiassian and Ghazi 2009; Viswanadham et al.
2009; Murray et al. 2000).
Expansive soil distributed widely around the
world is predominantly composed of clay, which
undergoes palpable volume change in response to
changes in soil water content. Consequently, due to
its undesirable engineering properties, expansive soil
often pose a nightmare for practicing geotechnical
engineers in the area that distributed with expansive
soil (Dafalla et al. 2012). Many techniques have
been proposed to alleviate the unhealthy effects of
expansive soil on civil infrastructure, such as
stabilization, substitution, thin continuous footings,
rigid slabs, moisture barriers, etc. (Rojas et al.
2006). Besides, limited studies indicated that the
engineering properties of expansive soil were
improved due to fiber inclusions (Punthutaecha
et al. 2006; Ikizlera et al. 2008; Malekzadeh and
Bilsel 2012).
However, investigations on fiber reinforcement are
mostly concentrating on synthetic fiber-reinforced
sand, while the effects of randomly distributed natural
fibers on the shear resistance characteristics of expan-
sive soil haven’t been studied sufficiently. Moreover,
unfortunately, the shear strength of expansive soil
possesses a typical characteristic of decreasing
quickly after reaching peak, besides, the interaction
between fibers and expansive clayey soil is more
complicated than that of fibers and sand (Li 2005).
Thus, studies on natural fiber-reinforced expansive
soil are necessary.
Geotech Geol Eng

2 Laboratory Observations

2.1 Sample Preparation

2.1.1 Expansive Soil

A fine grained silty clay soil, a classic Shanghai clayey

soil, was used in the testing program. The soil used in
this study could be concluded that the soil used in this
study was typical weak expansive soil in Hefei region
based on the value range of free swell index, the
chemical constituents (Table 1) and the grain size
distribution curve (Fig. 1) of the soil studied were
obtained from a series of indoor soil mechanics tests
Fig. 1 Grading curve of expansive soil
and X-ray fluorescence analysis.

2.1.2 Jute Fiber

This investigation used jute fiber as soil reinforcement

material, which is one of the most economic and
multipurpose natural fibers dubbed as ‘gold fiber’.
Furthermore, using natural fibers to reinforce soil has
been increasingly attracting emphasis in geotechnical
engineering thanks to its economical efficiency,
availability and non-pollution. Experiment results Fig. 2 Photograph of jute fiber. a macroscopic view, b micro-
scopic view
concluded by Aggarwal and Sharma (2011) who
observed the subgrade characteristics utilizing jute
fiber reinforcement showed that jute fiber reduces the Table 2 Properties of jute fiber
maximum dry density while increase the optimum Properties Values
moisture content and CBR value of jute fiber-
reinforced soil. Before testing, the longer jute fibers Diameter (lm) 55
3
were scissored into required length and then dried in Density (g/cm ) 1.42
an oven with a constant temperature until achieving Elongation (%) 1.6
constant weight. Figure 2 shows the macroscopic and Breaking tensile strength (MPa) 450.0
the microscopic photograph of jute fiber used in this Young’s modulus (GPa) 20.0
study. The physical and mechanical properties of jute Specific tensile strength (MPa/g cm-3) 420.0
fiber are listed in Table 2. Specific Young’s modulus (GPa/g cm-3) 5.0

the ratio between fibers weight (Wf) and dry soil

2.2 Experimental Process
particles weight (Ws) as shown in Eq. (1).
Laboratory specimens were prepared with 3 different Wf
q¼  100 % ð1Þ
fiber lengths, as well as fiber content (q) is defined as Ws

Table 1 X-ray fluorescence analysis of expansive soil

Constituents SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO K2O MgO Na2O LOI

Content (%) 60.22 22.30 7.56 2.80 1.62 1.65 0.75 3.10

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Moreover, fiber-soil composite and raw soil were
mixed with 3 different water content. Thus, there were
60 specimens including plain soil and fiber-reinforced
soil in total for each of the test groups.
The following procedure was utilized to mix jute
fibers with expansive soil. Firstly, appropriate amount
expansive soil that had been oven-dried were crushed
down by machine after which were sieved to a size
finer that 2 mm. Secondly, weighed out dry soil of
specific weight and jute fiber with corresponding
weight ratio. Thirdly, the fibers were continually
mixed into dry soil by hand in small increments until
all of the fibers were effectively distributed within soil
matrix. Lastly, the soil-fiber composite were wet
uniformly with water content predetermined following
by sealed storage for 24 h allowing water diffused
adequately within it.
Because the Moist tamping technique which owns
superiority in relatively well controlling specimen
density and preventing fiber clumping and segregation
was used in the preparation of all specimens, these
specimens were prepared using moist tamping tech-
nique so as to obtain density closer to the objective
density. During compaction process, each layer was
compacted to designed dry density by measuring the
height of the layer. However, to some extent, moist
tamping may leads to preferred sub-horizontal orien-
tation of fibers thus cause anisotropy for fiber-
reinforced soil properties which will be evaluated in
further study in the future, actually, this experiment
didn’t take that into consideration.
2.3 Shear Strength Parameter Tests
2.3.1 Direct Shear Test
A series of direct shear tests were conducted on all of
the soil specimens prepared under 4 different vertical
pressure (i.e. 100, 200, 300 and 400 kPa). The soil
specimens cut from compacted soil using a cutting
ring with diameter of 61.8 mm and height of 20.0 mm
were sheared in an strain-controlled direct shear
apparatus till reaching failure of soil specimens, and
if there was no existing peak shear stress, the soil
specimens would be sheared continuously before
reaching a shear displacement of 10.0 mm. Hence,
the shear stress corresponding to 10.0 mm shear
displacement would be regarded as the shear strength
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Geotech Geol Eng
of that specimen. The shear stress of specimens was
recorded as a function of the shear displacement
during shear process, and the test results will be
presented and discussed in next section.
2.3.2 CU Triaxial Compression Test
Consolidated-undrained (CU) triaxial compression
tests were implemented on soil specimens with or
without jute fiber in order that ascertaining the effects
of varying variables (i.e. Fiber length and content, soil
moisture and dry density.) on the shear strength and its
parameters as well as deformation characteristics for
soil specimens under CU condition.
Cylindrical-shaped specimens compacted finished
in compacting instrument were put into soil cutting
disc in where there experienced trim carefully until
a triaxial specimen size of 40.0 mm in diameter and
80.0 mm in length was achieved. Importantly,
special efforts should be made in minishing distur-
bance for jute fibers within soil specimens during
the trimming process. After that, the soil specimens
were consolidated under 20 kPa cell pressure in an
strain-controlled apparatus of triaxial compression
test during which the drainage was allowed and the
pore water pressure was measured by a dial gauge
till the pore water pressure dissipated more that
95 % or the specimen deformation was less than
0.01 mm of the last 1 h whichever was earlier.
Lastly, axial load was applied on specimens that
after compaction under a cell pressure of 250 kPa
until the soil specimens failed or reached an axial
strain of 15 % whichever was earlier. Besides, a
strain rate of 0.15 % per minute was selected to
ensure the equilibrium of pore water pressure
throughout the specimen during the experimental
process. The deviator stress was recorded as a
function of axial strain during the test process.
3 Discussion of Results and Influence Factors
Effects of fiber content, fiber length, soil water content
and soil dry density on the shear strength and its
parameters and deformation characteristics for jute
fiber-reinforced expansive soil would be analyzed
respectively after data processing of direct shear and
CU triaxial compression test.
Geotech Geol Eng

3.1 Fiber Content

The jute fiber content mixing into soil mass has an

important effect on the mechanical properties of
expansive soil. A comparison of the shear strength of
plain soil and soil reinforced with different percentage
jute fiber (Fl = 12.0 mm) under four varying vertical
stress is shown in Fig. 3.
It is observed from Fig. 3 that randomly distributed
discrete jute fiber improved the shear strength of
expansive soil under different vertical stress, more-
over, the shear strength increase was a function of the
fiber content and 0.6 % fiber content contributed to the
shear strength most. The mechanism of fiber rein-
Fig. 4 Curves of cohesion between fiber content
forcement could be explained as: when shear failure of
fiber-reinforced soil occurs, the tensile stress devel-
oped in fiber due to relative displacement between
fiber surface and the surrounding soil particles will
conversely act on the surrounding soil particles, hence,
the rolling of soil particles adjacent to soil/fiber
interface will be restrained by the fibers insuring the
soil mass acting as a coherent entirety, as a result, the
shear strength of jute fiber-reinforced soil improved
observably. The reduction in shear strength when fiber
content exceeds 0.6 % resulted from the drop of
entirety for fiber-reinforced soil.
Figures 4 and 5 shows the trend between fiber
content and the shear strength parameters of varying
fiber length reinforced expansive soil at the state of
MDD and OMC.
Fig. 5 Curves of internal friction angle with fiber content
At this state, the cohesion and internal friction angle
of unreinforced soil were 85.10 kPa and 25.45°, length of 6, 12 and 18 mm improved the cohesion and
respectively, the introduction of 0.3 % fiber with internal friction angle of expansive soil to 114.50,
118.10 and 116.20 kPa, 25.80°, 26.05° and 25.78°,
respectively. In general, the cohesion of reinforced
soil increased with increasing fiber content until
reaching 0.6 % fiber content, after which further
increase in fiber content reduced the cohesion.
However, fiber content has no obvious impact on
the internal friction angle of fiber-reinforced soil.
Furthermore, it’s worthy to note that the internal
friction angle of soil reinforced with fibers of varying
length was lower than that of unreinforced soil when
fiber content was 0.9 %, which might due to the reason
that the soil particles in the original position was
replaced by fibers leading to porosity within soil mass
increase and reduction of compactness and the effec-
tive contact area among soil particles, and thus the
Fig. 3 Comparison of shear strength internal friction angle reduces.

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3.2 Fiber Length
The fiber length effects on the shear strength param-
eters (i.e. Internal friction angle and cohesion) for fiber
reinforced expansive soil were analyzed by changing
fiber length and keeping other variables be constant.
Test results were listed in Figs. 6 and 7 (state of MDD
and OMC).
Figure 6 indicated that the cohesion of soil spec-
imens reinforced with jute fiber of three different
length were varying when fiber content was constant,
besides, 12 mm fiber contributed most to the increase
of cohesion for fiber-reinforced expansive soil. Fur-
thermore, a upper limit value existed for the increase
effects of fiber length to the cohesion of reinforced
soil. After reaching 12 mm of fiber length, further
increase in fiber length had no discernable increasing
Fig. 6 Effects of fiber length on cohesion
Fig. 7 Effects of fiber length on internal friction angle
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Geotech Geol Eng
effects on the increase of cohesion for fiber-reinforced
soil which even restrained the exertion of the increas-
ing effects to the increase of cohesion. Thus, on one
hand, fiber with moderate length to reinforce soil
could strengthen the reinforcement effects by means
of the interaction between fibers, on the other hand,
however, overlong fiber led to the problem of local
aggregation (clumping) and folding (balling) within
fiber-soil composite which reduced the uniformity of
fiber distributed in fiber-soil composite.
It was recognized from Fig. 7 that the internal
friction angle of reinforced soil was not affected
significantly by fiber length, in principle, the internal
friction angle for soil samples reinforced with varying
content and length fiber ranged from 24.8° to 26.2°,
which was coincided with test results of Prabakar et al.
(2002) who investigated sisal fiber-reinforced soil.
3.3 Water Content
Water content effects on mechanical response of fiber-
soil composite were observed by changing water
content and keeping other variables be constant (i.e.
Soil dry density of 1.80 g/cm3, Fl = 12 mm). Water
content plays an important role in the shear strength
parameters and curves of deviatoric stress-axial strain
for both unreinforced and fiber reinforced soil. Rele-
vant test results were listed in Figs. 8 and 9.
Figure 8 indicated that increase of water content
within a specific scope resulted in increasing in
cohesion of specimens, the cohesion of both rein-
forced and unreinforced specimens peaked in opti-
mum moisture content (18 %) after which further
Fig. 8 Effects of water content on cohesion
Geotech Geol Eng
Fig. 9 Effects of water content on internal friction angle
increase of water content caused reducing rapidly of
cohesion. Besides, the cohesion of fiber-soil compos-
ite were higher than that of unreinforced specimens
under each level water content except for that the
cohesion of reinforced specimen with water content of
22 % and fiber content of 0.9 % lower than that of
unreinforced specimen at the same condition. After
reaching optimum water content, the values of cohe-
sion for both reinforced and unreinforced specimens
were almost equal which demonstrated that exorbitant
water content limited the development of fiber rein-
forcement effects. Actually, fiber reinforcement
effects were changed due to change in water content
by which water content exerted influence over the
fiber/soil interfacial interaction effects. In general, an
increase in water content reduces the capillary force
(matric suction) and the effective stress between soil
particles, moreover, the overmuch free water in
fiber/soil interface may act as a lubricant layer which
decreases the frictional coefficient of fiber periphery
and adjacent soil particles.
It was seen from Fig. 9 that the internal friction
angle for both reinforced and unreinforced specimens
were decreased with increasing of water content. As is
well-known, the internal friction angle of soil was
determined by the surface friction of soil particles and
the occlusal force produced by embedding and inter-
lock effects between soil particles, and thus when
water content increased, the enhanced lubrication
effects between soil particles weakened the surface
friction leading to a reduction in internal friction
angle. Hence, maintaining water content of soil being
optimum moisture content in soil reinforcement
engineering using fiber contributes to fully mobilizing
the fiber reinforcement effects.
3.4 Dry Density
Soil dry density plays a key role in the shear strength
parameters and fiber reinforcement effects for both
reinforced and unreinforced specimens. The compar-
ison column diagrams of cohesion and internal friction
angle for reinforced (Fl = 12 mm) and unreinforced
specimens prepared with two different dry density
were shown in Figs. 10 and 11 (w = 18 %).
It was observed from Figs. 10 and 11 that the
cohesion and the internal friction angle of unrein-
forced and different fiber content reinforced speci-
mens prepared with dry density of 1.80 g/cm3 were
both higher than that of both unreinforced and
reinforced specimens prepared at dry density of
1.60 g/cm3 which indicated that increasing specimen
dry density could improved the shear strength param-
eters of that specimens. Take the 1.80 g/cm3 speci-
mens, for example, the cohesion and internal friction
angle of unreinforced soil were 100.20 kPa and
25.50°, respectively, the introduction of 0.3, 0.6,
0.9 % fiber content improved the cohesion and
internal friction angle of expansive soil to 119.60,
126.80 and 120.8 kPa, 26.20°, 25.40° and 25.10°,
respectively. For the 1.60 g/cm3 specimens, the cohe-
sion and internal friction angle of unreinforced soil
were 93.60 kPa and 24.20°, respectively, the intro-
duction of 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 % fiber content improved the
cohesion and internal friction angle of expansive soil
to 114.20 118.80 and 113.80 kPa, 25.60°, 24.80° and
24.60°, respectively. The increase amplitude of
Fig. 10 Comparison column diagram of cohesion for speci-
mens prepared with two different dry density
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 Geotech Geol Eng

Fig. 11 Comparison diagram of internal friction angle for

specimens prepared with two different dry density

cohesion for specimens reinforced with 0.3, 0.6 and

0.9 % fiber prepared at dry density of 1.80 g/cm3 were
19.36, 26.54 and 20.55 %, respectively, which were
overall higher than that of specimens prepared with
dry density of 1.60 g/cm3 with the increase amplitude
of 22.01, 26.92 and 21.58 %, respectively. Hence, the
fiber reinforcement effects is more obvious for spec-
imens prepared at higher dry density.
Fig. 12 Schematic of contact condition between soil particles
and fiber. a In tensile stress, b In pressure stress

4 Strength Influence Mechanism

The difference in fiber reinforcement effects for
specimens prepared with different dry density were
due to the reason that dry density affected crucially the
interactive condition of soil/fiber interface. In fact, soil
is a substance of disperse granular structure composed
by numerous soil particles and voids (containing void
and water) between soil particles. Thus, higher dry
density means greater amount of soil particles in a
certain volume of soil mass, therefore, the amount and
the aperture of voids decrease, in other words, the soil
mass becomes more dense and tighter interaction
between soil particles is achieved (Fig. 12), which
indicates that larger amount of soil particles will
contact with fiber and the effective contact area will
increase. Besides, higher dry density requires more
energy that applied on specimen during the com-
paction process which results in more cumulative
plastic deformation for soil particles contacted directly
with fiber, which cause a further increase of the
effective contact area between soil particles and fiber.
Dove and Frost (1999) claimed that the magnitude of
the interfacial friction and adhesion were affected
directly by the effective contact area of soil/fiber.
5 Conclusions
A series of direct shear tests and CU triaxial
compression tests were conducted on unreinforced
and jute fiber (varying fiber content and fiber length)
reinforced specimens prepared at different moisture
content and dry density. The test results of this
investigation brings forth the following conclusions:
1. The feasibility of using randomly distributed
discrete jute fiber to reinforce the expansive soil
derived from Hefei region is promising due to the
advantages of economy, non-pollution and avail-
ability that jute fiber possessed and the superior
improving effects of jute fiber reinforcement to
the strength of expansive soil. However, further
studies in terms of utilizing chemical additive to
do surface treatment for jute fiber so as to weak the
hydrophilic nature of natural fiber and improve the
resistance to biodegradability were needed to
widen the using extent of jute fiber.
2. Fiber content has an important effect on the
physical and mechanical properties of expansive
soil. The maximum value for the amplitude of
shear strength increase of reinforced specimen

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was achieved when fiber content was suitable and
compatible with the construction project. The
cohesion of reinforced specimens increased with
increasing of fiber content until fiber content
reached special value after which the cohesion
decreased. Fiber content has no particular influ-
ence on the internal friction angle of expansive
soil.
3. The shear strength of expansive soil is character-
ized by protean, though, the introduction of jute
fiber into expansive soil restrained effectively the
reduction of shear strength after reaching peak for
expansive soil, which contributed to the transfor-
mation of deviatoric stress-axial strain curves
from strain-softening to strain-hardening.
4. The fiber improving effects on cohesion increased
with increasing fiber length until reached a fiber
length of special value after which further increase
in fiber in fiber length may limit the development
of fiber reinforcement effects on cohesion. The
internal friction angle of reinforced specimens
were not affected significantly by fiber length
which values ranged mainly from 25° to 26°.
5. Within a particular range of water content, the
cohesion of specimens increased with increasing
water content, however, further increase of water
content after reaching optimum moisture content
reduced the cohesion sharply. The internal friction
angle of reinforced and unreinforced specimens
decreased with increasing water content.
6. Fiber improving effects depended primarily on the
interactive condition between fiber and soil. The
phenomenon that fiber improving effects was
more apparent for specimens prepared at higher
dry density resulted from larger effective contact
area of soil/fiber.
Acknowledgments The study presented in this paper was
jointly supported by the China National Natural Science
Foundation (51304057, 51308164), the Science and
Technology Plan Project of Wuhan City Urban and Rural
Commission (201620), and the Fundamental Research Funds
for the Hefei key Project Construction Administration
(2013CGAZ0771).
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