Author : H.P. Singh

Reinforcing elements in the form of rods, sheets, strips, membranes such as Jute, Coir, and Bamboo to soil is prevalent for a long time and they are abundantly used in many countries like India, Philippines, etc. The main advantages of these materials are they are locally available, cheap and biodegradable. If these materials are used effectively, the rural economy can get uplift and also the cost of construction can be reduced. Further, the soil reinforcement causes significant improvement in tensile strength, shear strength, stiffness modulus and load carrying capacity of soil. Keeping this in view an experimental study was conducted with locally available (Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India) soil reinforced with jute geotextile layers. The Jute Geotextile layers equal to plan dimensions (38 mm x 76 mm) of triaxial test samples were placed at equal vertical spacing within the soil in different combinations such as 1 layer, 2 layers, 3 layers and 4 layers. The shear strength parameters (c and ϕ) and stiffness modulus (σd/ϵ) of reinforced soil were determined in the laoratory using triaxial test set up. Further, these test results were compared with that of unreinforced soil. It was observed that inclusion of Jute Geotextile layer into the soil increases the shear strength parameters and stiffness modulus of soil and this increase is maximum corresponding to 4 layers of Jute Geotextile layers. Thus there is a significant increase in shear strength parameters and stiffness modulus of soil due to inclusion of Jute geotextile sheets as reinforcement.

Keywords: Soil, Jute Geotextile Sheet, Shear strength parameters, Stiffness modulus, Triaxial compression test.

Article published in International Journal of Current  Engineering  and Technology, Vol.3,No.3(Aug- 2013)