Enhancing the bearing capacity of rigid footing using limited life kenaf geotextile reinforcement

This research focuses on soft clay improvement by using Kenaf textile as a natural geotextile reinforcement. A series of small-scale laboratory tests were conducted to study the impact of the geotextile reinforcement depth, d, the vertical spacing between reinforcement, S and the number of reinfor- cement layers, N on the bearing capacity of the soil model. The test results were verified using the numerical simulation by PLAXIS 2D. In this study, the influence factors included four different d/B ratios of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0; three different S/B ratios of 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75, and a different number of reinforcement layers, N from 1 to 4 were investigated where B is the footing width. The results clearly showed that the bearing capacity of rigid footings was significantly improved with the Kenaf geotextile layers in the kaolin. The measured and predicted bearing capacity results were in good agreement. The optimum d/B ratio and S/B ratio, which resulted in the maximum ultimate bearing capacity of the Kenaf-reinforced model ground were about 0.25 and 0.25, respectively. The optimum N was 3, i.e., the bearing capacity insignificantly improved even with N > 3

Bearing capacity of sandy soil treated by Kenaf fibre geotextile

Bio-based materials are widely used recently in order to introduce a more sustainable construction material. Kenaf is a type of bio-based material that can be easily obtained in a tropical country, which could be a potential material to be utilised as a geotextile material because it has good tensile strength. The geotextile could be used to improve the bearing capacity of a loose soil. This paper presents a series of small-scale physical modelling tests to investigate the bearing capacity performance of Kenaf fibre geotextile laid on and inside the sand layer. A rigid footing was used to replicate a strip footing during the loading test, and sand was prepared based on 50% of relative density in a rigid testing chamber for ground model preparation. In order to treat the soil, Kenaf fibre geotextile was laid at four difference locations which are on the soil surface and underneath the ground model surface at 50, 75 and 100 mm deep. It was found that the usage of the Kenaf fibre geotextile has improved the bearing capacity of the sandy soil up to 414.9% as compared to untreated soil. It was also found that the depth of the Kenaf fibre geotextile treated into the soil also affects the soil performance. © 2017, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany

Assessment the behavior of seismic designed steel moment frames subjected to progressive collapse

Recent investigations reveal that progressive collapse phenomenon is dominant behavior in the majority of steel structures. Although the design of buildings is based on the fact that they need to withstand all the loads exerted on the structure, failure occurs as a result of inadequate design and modeling techniques, particularly for abnormal and extreme loading conditions. Once one or more load bearing member is eliminated from the structure, progressive collapse, mainly in columns, will commence. By the time a column is eliminated from the structure as a result of a sudden motor vehicle strike or earthquake or fire or any other internal or external factor that could take one column out of the system, the weight of the building (gravity load) will be distributed among other columns within the structure. Failure commences in the part of the structure that has lost a column unless other columns are designed appropriately against gravity loads and are capable of redistribution of additional loads imposed on them. Failure of vertical load bearing elements will continue until the stabilization of extra loading. Hence, this could lead to serious damage and collapse of the building which will lead to higher damage to the building than the primary damage. This research is based on the regulations conforming to the specifications of UFC guidelines and the structures have been modeled using SAP2000 (2012). In order to study the effects of the progressive collapse on the seismic design of special steel moment frames, SMRF, two 5-story and 15-storystructures are modeled in SAP2000 (2012). In order to have a better understanding of progressive collapse and obtain reliable results, Linear Static (LS), Nonlinear Static (NLS) and Nonlinear Dynamic analyses (NLD) procedure for single and 2 adjacent columns removal have been implemented in this study. Having a good perception of the possibility of progressive collapse involves incorporation of demand capacity ratio, plastic hinges formation and vertical displacements of removed column's location plus axial force in columns adjacent to the removed column. Other factors such as number of stories and the amount of local damage resulted from the removal of 2 adjacent columns could also lead to a better understanding of the structural behavior

Bearing capacity performance of soft cohesive soil treated by kenaf limited life geotextile

This article presents the performance of the short-term bearing capacity on soft clay soil treated by Kenaf geotextile under vertical loading via a small-scale modelling test at unit gravity. The ground model was formulated by consolidating kaolin in a rigid testing compartment. In the loading test, the strip footing was represented by a rigid footing. For the treated case, a series of tests were performed to examine the effects of the burial depth of the Kenaf geotextile on the bearing capacity of the soft soil. The Kenaf geotextile was laid beneath the rigid footing (at the ground surface) and at 50, 75 and 100 mm depth from the soil surface. All the measured results of the Kenaf geotextile treated ground were compared with the untreated ground. The incorporation of Kenaf fibre geotextile was observed to enhance the bearing capacity of soft cohesive clay up to 281% depending upon the depth of the installed geotextile. The geotextile at the surface provided the highest bearing capacity and sustained the highest displacement at failure. The outcome of this research will promote the use of natural fibre geotextiles as sustainable earth reinforcement in temporary earthwork applications

Investigation of tensile strength on alkaline treated and untreated kenaf geotextile under dry and wet conditions

Geosynthetics or geotextile is used for aggregate separation, soil reinforcement, filtration, drainage and moisture or liquid barriers in geotechnical applications. Because of the environmental issues, a bio-based material is introduced as a sustainable construction material. The kenaf fibre is a bio-based material available in the tropical countries. It can be potentially used as a geotextile because of its high tensile strength. This paper presents the tensile strength characteristics of kenaf geotextile, manufactured with and without sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment. The tensile strength of kenaf geotextile was determined by using the wide-width strip test based on the ASTM D4595-17 standard. Because the kenaf fibre has a high water absorption capability, the effect of wet and dry conditions on tensile behaviour of kenaf textile was studied. Two patterns of woven kenaf with two different opening sizes between their yarns (0 × 0 and 2 × 2 mm)—plain and incline patterns were studied. In addition, the tensile strength of the kenaf geotextiles, buried in natural ground, was examined after a one-year period. The tensile strength of kenaf geotextiles was higher for the smaller spaces between the yarns. Furthermore, the tensile strength and elongation were lower under wet condition. The alkaline treatment (6% concentration of NaOH) significantly improved the tensile strength of the woven kenaf geotextile. The tensile strength of the treated kenaf geotextile was higher than that of the untreated one, for both short and long-term conditions, showing the advantage of NaOH treatment

Sustainable Soil Bearing Capacity Improvement Using Natural Limited Life Geotextile Reinforcement—A Review

Geotextiles are commercially made from synthetic fibres and have been used to enhance bearing capacity and to reduce the settlement of weak soil foundations. Several efforts have been made to investigate the possibility of using bio-based geotextiles for addressing environmental issues. This paper attempts to review previous studies on the bearing capacity improvement of soils reinforced with bio-based geotextiles under a vertical static load. The bearing capacity of the unreinforced foundation was used as a reference to illustrate the role of bio-based geotextiles in bearing capacity improvement. The effects of first geotextile depth to footing width ratio (d/B), geotextile spacing to footing width ratio (S/B), geotextile length to footing width ratio (L/B) and the number of reinforcement layers (N) on the bearing capacity were reviewed and presented in this paper. The optimum d/B ratio, which resulted in the maximum ultimate bearing capacity, was found to be in the range of 0.25–0.4. The optimum S/B ratio was in the range of 0.12–0.5. The most suitable L/B ratio, which resulted in better soil performance against vertical pressure, was about 3. Besides, the optimum number of layers providing the maximum bearing capacity was about three This article is useful as a guideline for a practical design and future research on the application of the natural geotextiles to improve the short-term bearing capacity of weak soil foundations in various sustainable geotechnical applications