Mechanical Behavior of Fiber-Reinforced Soils under Undrained Triaxial Loading Conditions

The design of fiber-reinforced soil structures, such as embankments and pavements, can be carried out using the results of unconsolidated, undrained triaxial compression tests conducted on specimens at their “as-compacted” water content and analyzed in terms of total stresses. The effects of soil and fiber type on the mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced soils have not been methodically or adequately examined in the past under these conditions, and the effects of fiber length and content on the shear strength parameters of fiber-reinforced soils need further experimental documentation. Accordingly, five soils ranging from “excellent” to “poor” materials for use in earthwork structures were tested in the present study, in combination with five types of polypropylene fibers having lengths ranging from 9 to 50 mm. Unconsolidated undrained triaxial compression tests were conducted on specimens at their “as-compacted” water content, with fiber contents ranging from 0.5 to 2% by weight of dry soil. Fiber reinforcement reduces the stiffness and increases the deformability of the soil. The fiber-reinforced soils exhibit a more ductile behavior in comparison with the unreinforced soils. A Mohr–Coulomb type linear failure criterion satisfactorily describes the shear strength behavior of fiber-reinforced soils in total stress terms. The cohesion values of the fiber-reinforced soils range between 61 kPa and 301 kPa and increase up to seven times in comparison with the cohesion values of the unreinforced soils. The variations of the angle of internal friction of soils due to fiber reinforcement are generally limited to ±25%. The cohesion improvement due to fiber reinforcement is increased with increasing fiber content and fiber length up to 30 mm and is inversely proportional to the fine-grained fraction and the cohesion of the unreinforced soil.