Abstract

Improvement of the engineering properties of soils by reinforcing them with fibers, at an appropriate percentage of the weight of dry soil, is frequently selected to ensure the safe construction and operation of many structures. However, the published information regarding the investigation of the dynamic properties of fiber-reinforced soils at very small strains is very limited. Toward this end, the dynamic behavior of fiber-reinforced soils is investigated experimentally by conducting Bender Element tests under different confining pressures. The effect of polypropylene fiber reinforcement on the shear wave velocity (Vs), the velocity of the primary wave (Vp), the initial Young’s modulus (E0) and the initial shear modulus (G0) of sand and sand–clay mixtures with varying compositions is examined in this study. The soils were reinforced with five different types of polypropylene fibers having lengths from 9 mm to 50 mm, at fiber contents from 0.5% to 2% by weight of dry soil. The results indicate that the dynamic and the small-strain stiffness parameters of fiber-reinforced soils increase with increasing confining pressure, while also being affected by the soil type, the fiber type, and content. Although fiber inclusion resulted generally in a reduction of the dynamic properties of soils, increases ranging from 5% to 55% were observed in certain soil–fiber combinations in comparison with the unreinforced soils.

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