Soil Reinforcement Short Course - 02

Embankments on soft soils

and settlement control
 Key topics

1. What is a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a service life.

Is the service life of the reinforcement the same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do need

also piles under it?

4. What is the deformation level I have to design the reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a service life;

is the service life of the reinforcement the same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do need

also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
 Introduction

Construction of embankments on clay and organic peat can be

critical because these kind of soils may have a very low strength and
high compressibility.
Factors that can cause a failure of embankments on soft soils

Foundation soil
failure

Slide of embankment
fill on underlying soft
soil

Excess of displacement
 Fine soils behaviour and characteristics

Fine soils and organic peat strength depends heavily on:

▪ Mineral composition
▪ Stress history
▪ Water content
▪ Stress condition
▪ Stress increment rate in time
 Short term strength
The stability analysis in undrained condition in fine soils are usually made in
term of total stress. This is the followed approach because it is very difficult
to estimate the pore water pressure regime under failure conditions in such
kind of soils

Undrained condition strength parameters for saturated soils

Cu > 0 , fu =0
On the basis of undrained strength the fine soils are
classified as follows: Consistency Undrained
strength (kPa)
Very stiff or hard >150
G.L. Cu
Cu Stiff 100-150
0

Firm to stiff 75-100

Firm 50-75
Z
NC OC Soft to firm 40-50

Soft 20-40

Very soft <20

 Embankment with reinforced soil foundation, stress
condition and reinforcement contribution

Foundation stress condition Reinforcement stress condition

Vertical and outward Vertical and inward

shear stress on shear stress
foundation soil

unreinforced reinforced

fill weight vertical stress

fill thrust shear stress

 Factors governing basal reinforcement design

Soil foundation shear strength

Stratigraphy Typically out of our

control; info provided by
Embankment geometry the committent/designer

loading rate

Reinforcement strength

Our job and

Reinforcement stiffness
added value!
Interaction between reinforcement and foundation soil
 Comments

When we deal with these soils we have to consider that their initial strength will be
very low and they will be in saturate conditions.
When they are loaded the water is slowly to get out from the soil matrix.

Increase of
the strength
When the new and the
equilibrium in the soil presence of
the
will be reached the settlement
settlement will stop.
Reduction
of the pore
pressure
Geosynthetic
reinforcement
can manage
some of
potential
problem
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a service life;

is the service life of the reinforcement the same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do need

also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
 Geosynthetics reinforcement
We can use a high strength and stiff reinforcement layer at the fill base in
order to improve embankment stability; the reinforcement provide an
additional strength needed to achieve the equilibrium state.

Which are the benefits of the presence of a geosynthetic

reinforcement at the base on an embankment?

▪ increase the safety factor against catrastrophic failure YES

▪ limit the magnitude of overall settlments NOT REALLY

▪ control differential settlements PARTIALLY

 Comments

Not change Not influence

the nature of the
the soil consolidation
process
Reinforcement

Reinforcement = additional
stabilizing force =>
guarantee the equilibrium in a
stability analysis
Redistributes
Less clear the matter related the loads and
to settlement it makes them
more
homogenous
 Reinforcement contribution

Limits in some extent the

differential settlements in the
various areas of the embankment

Reduces the overall settlements.

> distributed loads < peaks
and < settlements

Let’s say that the reinforcement increase fictitiously the soil bearing capacity
and it has as a collateral beneficial effect the reduction of the settlement
Required reinforcement tensile strength varies with time because it is
dependent on the improvement of the foundation soil shear strength
occuring during the consolidation event. Usually the design working load
is the maximum experienced during construction with a reinforcement
design life equal to the time required to achieve 90% of the consolidation
rate.
Required reinforcement strength

Minimum design strength

of reinforcement

Actual load carried

by reinforcement Design life of
reinforcement

Time
t90
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
 We need a piled embankment solution to guaranteee the overall
stability but the MAIN TARGET IS TO KEEP UNDER CONTROL
OR ELIMINATE THE SETTLEMENTS due to the consolidation of
the foundation under the weight of the upper embankment.
Embankment fill material

Reinforcement geosynthetic

Foundation soft soil piles

reinforced

unreinforced
 Profile after the settlement due to consolidation (with piles)
Profile after the settlement due to consolidation (without piles)

Initial profile
Geosynthetic reinforcement

Pile caps

Piles
Existing embankment Area of embankment expansion

Geosynthetic
reinfporcement

Piles
Soft foundation soil

Firm foundation
 Geosynthetic reinforcement
Building

embankment

road

Piles Soft foundation soil

Fast execution of relevant height embankments

Safety factor incase of more steps

construction procedure

One step construction phase

Ultimate limite states

More steps construction procedure

 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
Required reinforcement tensile strength is constant in time and must
guarantee the equilibrium at the end of the design life of the struture
Load/strain response

Time
Load/strain response in reinforcement
 Key topics
1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
Design of the embankment with reinforced soil foundation

Without Piles With Piles

Define embankment geometry Define embankment geometry

Bearing capacity check Design of the pile geometry and check if it is

compatible with the geosynthetic reinforcement
design requirements

Lateral sliding check Design of the reinforcement according to a

“chain model” assuming an arching behaviour
for the soil
Overall stability check Lateral sliding check

Establish geosynthetic reinforcement Overall stability

deformation requirement

Establish geosynthetic reinforcement

deformation requirement
Geosynthetic renforcement deformation requirement (no piles)
Finite elements and finite difference analysis are the only methods which can
define the amount and type of deformation of the structure in order to respect the
serviceability requirements; as a general guide some indications about
reinforcement allowable strain are given in literature, which are derived from FE
and FD analysis and from experience (the secant modulus must be considered
for reinforcement):

From BS 8008

εmax< 5% For short term condition

5%<εmax< 10% For log term condition

Reduction of allowable strain is necessary in case o sensitive clay

From FHWA

5%<εmax< 10% (but 2%<ε< 5% is more realistic) For

granular fill

εmax< 2% For cohesive fill

2%<εmax< 10% For peat foundation soil

From Bonaparte and Christopher (1987)

2 < εmax< 3% Highly sensitive or brittle clay

4 < εmax< 6% Medium to low-sensitivity clays

εmax< 10% Nonsensensitve and plastic clays

From EBGEO – Recommendations for design and Analysis of Earth Structures
using Geosynthetic Reinforcements (pag. 176 Par. 9.7.2.2. – chapter 9 reinforced
Earth Structures over Point or Linear bearing Elements)
 Comments
L t=0, reinforcement
To develope a tensile strength it is requested
that a deformation occur in the soil; to reduce
the value of the working strain below value of
4% is not advisable because it reduce the d t=d
arching behaviour of the soil and it leads to an
increase of the required strength. Working at L t=d, reinforcement
low levels of deformation (1 & 2 %) so is not
only not required but – probably - even
incorrect!

An additional consideration can be done taking

recalling that we are defining the
reinforcement strain and not the vertical arrow
that measure the real deflaction!!

L t=d, reinforcement - L t=0, reinforcement = reinforcement strain <<< d t=d = vertical deflection
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
Another potential
problem:
Sink holes
 Sequence of events no reinforcement

Embankment

Subsoil

Void
Sequence of events

Embankment The reinforcement

At some time in the
constructed over area deforms into a
future a void forms
where voids are now parabola and carried
to form the load

Remedial work is
carried out or The formation of a
reinforcement is void is recognised by
allowed to carry load of a depression at
design life of road ground surface
(maximum 120 years)
 Sequence of events with reinforcement

Surface depression

Embankment Reinforcement
deflects
Subsoil

Void
 Design considerations

Trunk roads
dS
dS  1% &
DS motorways
H
Ds
qd dS Nonprincipal
 1% roads
DS
d
Design based on the
maximum allowable strain
D in the reinforcement
required to keep depression
at the surface within
predefined limit
 Tension in reinforcement
Comments
– 5 m embankment
– Fill f’ = 300
The main problem is to determine:
– Traffic loading = 10kN/m2
• the size of the void
– Motorway
• the shape of the void
– Circular void
• the location of the void
4000

3500
All these assumptions are the key to

Tension in reinforcement (kN/m)

3000
determine the reinforcement strength
and can impact on the final results.These 2500

data must be agreed with the designers 2000

and have to be defined by them! 1500

1000

500

0
0 5 10 15 20
Diameter of void (m)
 Design consideration: Layout of reinforcement
Layer 2
Layer 1
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
 Formation
of Remedial work
void undertaken
reinforcement
Tension in

Reinforcement
no longer required

Time
Design life
Design life
 Key topics

1. What’s a soft soil and why do we need a reinforcement?

2. Geosynthetic-reinforced structured are defined by a

service life; is the service life of the reinforcement the
same as the structure?

3. Why do I use simply a reinforcement and sometime I do

need also piles under it?

4. What’s the deformation level I have to design the

reinforcement?

5. Which other type of problem may I face when I build an

embankment on weak soils?
Stress-strain behaviour; the influence of H/D on arching

43
Stress-strain behaviour; the influence of stiffness on arching

44
 Comments

To develop a tensile strength is requested that in the soil a deformation occur; to

reduce the value of the working strain below value of 4% is not advisable
because it reduce the arching behaviour of the soil and it leads to an increase of
the required strength. Working at low levels of deformation (1 & 2 %) so is not
only not required but probably even incorrect!

An additional consideration can be done taking into account that a “design

deformation of the reinforcement” (please not the vertical arrow that measure
the real deflection!!) below 4% means reducing the “visual effect” of the
deformation with the consequence that a potential break will occur without the
possibility to foresee what’s going on in the structure. This would lead to a
“fragile rupture mechanism” that has to be avoided (please recall what’s
happens in concrete reinforced structure where too much steel is in … this is not
considered a good design practice!)
 Comments
• Deformation occurs Develop a tensile strength

• Value of the working strain < 4 % NOT ADVISABLE

• Working at low levels NOT REQUIRED and even INCORRECT

“Design deformation of the reinforcement” below 4% reduce the “visual

effect” of the deformation

A potential break will occur without the possibility to foresee what’s going on in
the structure.

It has to be
Fragile rupture mechanism
avoided
 Engineering a better solution

Maccaferri’s range of Reinforcement Geosynthetics

suitable for basal reinforcement applications
• Geogrids Paralink, Paragrid & Paradrain
• Geogrids MacGrid WG
• Woven polyester geotextiles MacTex W2
• Geocomposites MacTex C2
 THANK YOU
Any questions?