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 prominent for specimens prepared at higher dry
effects of jute fiber content, fiber length, water content density by increasing the effective contact area of
and dry density of reinforced and unreinforced soil on fiber/soil. The application prospect of soil reinforce-
the strength influence mechanism by implementing a ment using natural fiber is impeded by the hydrophilic
series of laboratory tests and analysis. The most nature and biodegradability of natural fiber, thus,
efficient fiber reinforcement effects was achieved by studies on using chemical additive to do surface
means of adding jute fiber with content of 0.6 % and treatment for natural fiber are needed to improve the
length of 6 mm into expansive soil specimen prepared interfacial interaction of fiber/soil so as to widen the
at maximum dry density and optimum moisture application of natural fiber.
content. The cohesion of reinforced specimens
increased first with increasing fiber content and fiber Keywords Expansive soil  Jute fiber  Strength
length and then decreased with further increase in fiber parameters  Influence effect  Soil reinforcement
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 1 Introduction
acting as lubricant in the interface of fiber and soil
particles. Fiber reinforcement effects is more 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
W. Yixian (&)  G. Panpan  S. Shengbiao  founded on it or infrastructures such as embankments,
Y. Haiping (&)
slopes and landfills that constructed using the soil
School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of
Technology, Hefei 230009, China modified. Geosynthetics including geogrid, geotextile,
e-mail: [email protected] geonet and geocell and so on varying in forms and
Y. Haiping mechanical properties that oriented in soil matrix in a
e-mail: [email protected] particular direction predetermined are widely used in
traditional methods for soil reinforcement, and has
Y. Binxiang
been investigated by many investigators (Juran et al.
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering,
Guangdong University of Technology, 1990; Adams and Collin 1997; Han et al. 2012; Fatahi
Guangzhou 510006, China et al. 2013), however, a potential weak destructive

123
 Geotech Geol Eng

sliding surface may occurred along the interface inducing by fiber orientation of fiber-reinforced soil
between Geosynthetics and soil matrix due to the and so forth have been implemented in the past few
lower interfacial shear strength compared to that of decades (Gray and Ohashi 1983; Chen 2007; Jamei
plain soil without geosynthetics thus resulting in et al. 2013; Li and Zornberg 2013; Ranjan et al.
catastrophic damage for engineering structures (Eldes- 1996; Tang et al. 2010; Park and Tan 2005; Kanchi
ouky et al. 2015). et al. 2015).
The method of incorporating randomly distributed Previous literature review shows that fiber rein-
discrete fibers into soil matrix for reinforcing soil forcement increases the peak shear strength and
originated from ancient times, and, it is inspired limited post peak reduction in shear resistance of
from the natural phenomenon that the interaction fiber-reinforced soil. Furthermore, there are more
between plant roots and the surrounding superficial experimental investigations proving that fiber rein-
zone soil of a natural slope could protect the slope forcement possesses noteworthy functions in inhibit-
from rain wash (Kaniraj and Gayathri 2003; Wu ing the tensile crack propagation within soil mass
et al. 1988). Furthermore, compared to the conven- after initial formation, increasing the liquefaction
tional soil reinforcement method mentioned above, strength of sand, restraining the swelling tendency
soil reinforced with randomly distributed discrete of expansive soils as well as changing the stress–
fibers possess some unique and crucial advantages strain behavior from strain softening to strain
or superiorities. Consequently, randomly distributed hardening for sandy silt (Marandi et al. 2008;
fiber-reinforced soils have recently attracted increas- Ghiassian and Ghazi 2009; Viswanadham et al.
ing attention in geotechnical engineering for the 2009; Murray et al. 2000).
second time which demonstrates a promising pro- Expansive soil distributed widely around the
spect for the application of soil reinforcement by world is predominantly composed of clay, which
randomly distributed discrete fibers (Sayyed et al. undergoes palpable volume change in response to
2012; Sivakumar and Vasudevan 2008; Yetimoglu changes in soil water content. Consequently, due to
and Salbas 2003). In addition, it is necessarily noted its undesirable engineering properties, expansive soil
that the mixing and preparation procedures of often pose a nightmare for practicing geotechnical
randomly distributed discrete fibers reinforced soil engineers in the area that distributed with expansive
are relatively simpler and easier which are much soil (Dafalla et al. 2012). Many techniques have
similar to the process of adding lime, cement or been proposed to alleviate the unhealthy effects of
other additives into soil mass (Prabakar and Sridhar expansive soil on civil infrastructure, such as
2002). What’s more, the formation of potential stabilization, substitution, thin continuous footings,
planes of weakness that could be developed parallel rigid slabs, moisture barriers, etc. (Rojas et al.
to oriented reinforcement are restrained as a result 2006). Besides, limited studies indicated that the
of the fact that discrete fibers randomly distributed engineering properties of expansive soil were
within soil mass could improve the shear strength of improved due to fiber inclusions (Punthutaecha
fiber-reinforced soil in all directions and thus et al. 2006; Ikizlera et al. 2008; Malekzadeh and
causing isotropic strength characteristics for soil Bilsel 2012).
reinforced with randomly distributed discrete fibers However, investigations on fiber reinforcement are
(Shao et al. 2014). mostly concentrating on synthetic fiber-reinforced
Experimental investigations as well as theoretical sand, while the effects of randomly distributed natural
analysis on the mechanical response, the predictive fibers on the shear resistance characteristics of expan-
constitutive model, the shear failure criterion, the sive soil haven’t been studied sufficiently. Moreover,
mechanism of strength improvement, the effects of unfortunately, the shear strength of expansive soil
various parameters (i.e. Fiber content, fiber length, possesses a typical characteristic of decreasing
soil dry density, water content, etc.) on the strength quickly after reaching peak, besides, the interaction
characteristics of soil reinforced with randomly between fibers and expansive clayey soil is more
distributed discrete fibers, the interfacial shear complicated than that of fibers and sand (Li 2005).
strength between fibers and soil matrix, the potential Thus, studies on natural fiber-reinforced expansive
application prospect, the anisotropic behavior soil are necessary.

123
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

123
 Geotech Geol Eng

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

123
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.

123
 Geotech Geol Eng

3.2 Fiber Length effects on the increase of cohesion for fiber-reinforced

soil which even restrained the exertion of the increas-
The fiber length effects on the shear strength param- ing effects to the increase of cohesion. Thus, on one
eters (i.e. Internal friction angle and cohesion) for fiber hand, fiber with moderate length to reinforce soil
reinforced expansive soil were analyzed by changing could strengthen the reinforcement effects by means
fiber length and keeping other variables be constant. of the interaction between fibers, on the other hand,
Test results were listed in Figs. 6 and 7 (state of MDD however, overlong fiber led to the problem of local
and OMC). aggregation (clumping) and folding (balling) within
Figure 6 indicated that the cohesion of soil spec- fiber-soil composite which reduced the uniformity of
imens reinforced with jute fiber of three different fiber distributed in fiber-soil composite.
length were varying when fiber content was constant, It was recognized from Fig. 7 that the internal
besides, 12 mm fiber contributed most to the increase friction angle of reinforced soil was not affected
of cohesion for fiber-reinforced expansive soil. Fur- significantly by fiber length, in principle, the internal
thermore, a upper limit value existed for the increase friction angle for soil samples reinforced with varying
effects of fiber length to the cohesion of reinforced content and length fiber ranged from 24.8° to 26.2°,
soil. After reaching 12 mm of fiber length, further which was coincided with test results of Prabakar et al.
increase in fiber length had no discernable increasing (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-
Fig. 6 Effects of fiber length on cohesion mum moisture content (18 %) after which further

Fig. 7 Effects of fiber length on internal friction angle Fig. 8 Effects of water content on cohesion

123
Geotech Geol Eng

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-
Fig. 9 Effects of water content on internal friction angle
forced and different fiber content reinforced speci-
mens prepared with dry density of 1.80 g/cm3 were
increase of water content caused reducing rapidly of both higher than that of both unreinforced and
cohesion. Besides, the cohesion of fiber-soil compos- reinforced specimens prepared at dry density of
ite were higher than that of unreinforced specimens 1.60 g/cm3 which indicated that increasing specimen
under each level water content except for that the dry density could improved the shear strength param-
cohesion of reinforced specimen with water content of eters of that specimens. Take the 1.80 g/cm3 speci-
22 % and fiber content of 0.9 % lower than that of mens, for example, the cohesion and internal friction
unreinforced specimen at the same condition. After angle of unreinforced soil were 100.20 kPa and
reaching optimum water content, the values of cohe- 25.50°, respectively, the introduction of 0.3, 0.6,
sion for both reinforced and unreinforced specimens 0.9 % fiber content improved the cohesion and
were almost equal which demonstrated that exorbitant internal friction angle of expansive soil to 119.60,
water content limited the development of fiber rein- 126.80 and 120.8 kPa, 26.20°, 25.40° and 25.10°,
forcement effects. Actually, fiber reinforcement respectively. For the 1.60 g/cm3 specimens, the cohe-
effects were changed due to change in water content sion and internal friction angle of unreinforced soil
by which water content exerted influence over the were 93.60 kPa and 24.20°, respectively, the intro-
fiber/soil interfacial interaction effects. In general, an duction of 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 % fiber content improved the
increase in water content reduces the capillary force cohesion and internal friction angle of expansive soil
(matric suction) and the effective stress between soil to 114.20 118.80 and 113.80 kPa, 25.60°, 24.80° and
particles, moreover, the overmuch free water in 24.60°, respectively. The increase amplitude of
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 Fig. 10 Comparison column diagram of cohesion for speci-
optimum moisture content in soil reinforcement mens prepared with two different dry density

123
 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

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

123
Geotech Geol Eng

was achieved when fiber content was suitable and Aggarwal P, Sharma B (2011) Application of jute fiber in the
compatible with the construction project. The improvement of subgrade characteristics. Int J Trans Urban
Dev 1(1):56–58
cohesion of reinforced specimens increased with Chen CW (2007) A constitutive model for fiber-reinforced soils.
increasing of fiber content until fiber content PhD dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia
reached special value after which the cohesion Dafalla MA, Al-Shamrani MA, Puppala AJ, Ali HE (2012)
decreased. Fiber content has no particular influ- Design guide for rigid foundation systems on expansive
soils. Int J Geomech 12(5):528–536
ence on the internal friction angle of expansive Dove JE, Frost JD (1999) Peak friction behavior of smooth
soil. geomembrane-particle interfaces. J Geotech Geoenviron
3. The shear strength of expansive soil is character- Eng 125(7):544–555
ized by protean, though, the introduction of jute Eldesouky HM, Morsy MM, Mansour MF (2015) Fiber-rein-
forced sand strength and dilation characteristics. Ain
fiber into expansive soil restrained effectively the Shams Eng J. doi:10.1016/j.asej.2015.06.003
reduction of shear strength after reaching peak for Ghiassian H, Ghazi F (2009) Liquefaction analysis of fine sand
expansive soil, which contributed to the transfor- reinforced with carpet waste fibers under triaxial tests.
mation of deviatoric stress-axial strain curves Proceedings of 2nd international conference on new
developments in soil mechanics and geotechnical engi-
from strain-softening to strain-hardening. neering, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus
4. The fiber improving effects on cohesion increased Gray D, Ohashi H (1983) Mechanics of fiber reinforcement in
with increasing fiber length until reached a fiber sand. J Geotech Eng 109(3):335–353
length of special value after which further increase Han J, Bhandari A, Wang F (2012) DEM analysis of stresses and
deformations of geogrid-reinforced embankments over
in fiber in fiber length may limit the development piles. Int J Geomech 12(4):340–350
of fiber reinforcement effects on cohesion. The Ikizlera SB, Aytekina M, Nas E (2008) Laboratory study of
internal friction angle of reinforced specimens expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam used with expansive
were not affected significantly by fiber length soils. Geotext Geomembr 26(2):189–195
Jamei M, Villard P, Guiras H (2013) Shear failure criterion
which values ranged mainly from 25° to 26°. based on experimental and modeling results for fiber-re-
5. Within a particular range of water content, the inforced clay. Int J Geomech 13(6):882–893
cohesion of specimens increased with increasing Juran I, Ider H, Farrag K (1990) Strain compatibility analysis for
water content, however, further increase of water geosynthetics reinforced soil walls. J Geotech Eng
116(2):312–329
content after reaching optimum moisture content Kanchi GM, Neeraja VS, Sivakumar Babu GL (2015) Effect of
reduced the cohesion sharply. The internal friction anisotropy of fibers on the stress-strain response of fiber-
angle of reinforced and unreinforced specimens reinforced soil. Int J Geomech 15(1):06014016
decreased with increasing water content. Kaniraj SR, Gayathri V (2003) Geotechnical behavior of fly ash
mixed with randomly oriented fiber inclusions. Geotext
6. Fiber improving effects depended primarily on the Geomembr 21(3):123–149
interactive condition between fiber and soil. The Li CL (2005) Mechanical response of fiber-reinforced soil. PhD
phenomenon that fiber improving effects was dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin
more apparent for specimens prepared at higher Li CL, Zornberg JG (2013) Mobilization of reinforcement for-
ces in fiber-reinforced soil. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng
dry density resulted from larger effective contact 139(1):107–115
area of soil/fiber. Malekzadeh M, Bilsel H (2012) Effect of polypropylene fiber on
mechanical behaviour of expansive soils. Electr J Geotech
Eng 17/A:55–63
Acknowledgments The study presented in this paper was Marandi SM, Bagheripour MH, Rahgozar R, Zare H (2008)
jointly supported by the China National Natural Science Strength and ductility of randomly distributed palm fibers
Foundation (51304057, 51308164), the Science and reinforced silty-sand soils. Am J Appl Sci 5(3):209–220
Technology Plan Project of Wuhan City Urban and Rural Murray J, Frost D, Wang Y (2000) The behavior of sandy soil
Commission (201620), and the Fundamental Research Funds reinforced with discontinuous fiber inclusions. Trans Res
for the Hefei key Project Construction Administration Rec 1714:9–17
(2013CGAZ0771). Park T, Tan SA (2005) Enhanced performance of reinforced soil
walls by the inclusion of short fiber. Geotext Geomembr
23(4):348–361
References Prabakar J, Sridhar RS (2002) Effect of random inclusion of
sisal fibre on strength behaviour of soil. Constr Build Mater
Adams M, Collin J (1997) Large model spread footing load tests 16:123–131
on geosynthetic reinforced soil foundations. J Geotech Punthutaecha K, Puppala AJ, Vanapalli SK, Inyang H (2006)
Geoenviron Eng 123(1):66–72 Volume change behaviors of expansive soils stabilized

123
 Geotech Geol Eng

with recycled ashes and fibers. J Mater Civ Eng Sivakumar Babu G, Vasudevan A (2008) Strength and stiffness
18(2):295–306 response of coir fiber-reinforced tropical soil. J Mater Civ
Ranjan G, Vasan RM, Charan HD (1996) Probabilistic analysis Eng 20(9):571–577
of randomly distributed fiber-reinforced soil. J Geotech Tang CS, Shi B, Zhao LZ (2010) Interfacial shear strength of
Eng 122(6):419–426 fiber reinforced soil. Geotext Geomembr 28(1):54–62
Rojas E, Romo MP, Garnica P, Cervantes R (2006) Analysis of Viswanadham BVS, Phanikumar BR, Mukherjee RV (2009)
deep moisture barriers in expansive soils. II: water flow Swelling behaviour of a geofiber-reinforced expansive soil.
formulation and implementation. Int J Geomech Geotext Geomembr 27(1):73–76
6(5):319–327 Wu T, McOmber R, Erb R, Beal P (1988) Study of soil-root
Sayyed MH, Mohammad S, Sayyed MA, Ali Z (2012) A simple interaction. J Geotech Eng 114(12):1351–1375
review of soil reinforcement by using natural and synthetic Fatahi B, Le TM, Fatahi B et al (2013) Shrinkage properties of
fibers. Constr Build Mater 30:100–116 soft clay treated with cement and geofibers. Geotech Geol
Shao W, Cetin B, Li YD, Li JP, Li L (2014) Experimental Eng 31(5):1421–1435
investigation of mechanical properties of sands reinforced Yetimoglu T, Salbas O (2003) A study on shear strength of sands
with discrete randomly distributed fiber. Geotech Geol Eng reinforced with randomly distributed discrete fibers. Geo-
32:901–910 text Geomembr 21(2):103–110

123