Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Behaviour of square footing on sand reinforced with coir geocell

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The use of geosynthetics as a ground improvement technique offers the advantages such as space saving, environmental sensitivity, material availability, technical superiority, higher cost savings and less construction time. Coir geotextiles can be considered as an efficient replacement to its synthetic counterparts due to its economy and excellent engineering properties. The present study aims at exploring the possibilities of utilising coir geocells as a potential reinforcement material for shallow foundations and thereby increasing the load carrying capacity of soil. Geocells were fabricated from coir geotextiles with the aim of providing an additional confinement to the soil. An enumerated parametric study was conducted by varying the relative density, depth of the first layer, width and height of coir geocell. The surface displacement profiles of the non-reinforced and coir geocell-reinforced soil indicate that the footing rotation and heave are considerably reduced with the provision of geocell. The results of the relative density study indicate that bearing capacity characteristics increase with denseness of the soil sample. It was also observed that geocell arrangement and configuration play a pivotal role in the performance characteristics of reinforced soil.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

B:

Width of footing

b :

Width of geocell reinforcement

q r :

Bearing pressure of reinforced soil

q u :

Bearing pressure of unreinforced soil

d :

Pocket size of geocell

H :

Height of coir geocell

IF:

Improvement factor

s :

Footing settlement

u :

Depth to the first layer of reinforcement

R d :

Relative density of soil

References

  • Abu-Farsakh M, Chen Q, Sharma R (2013) An experimental evaluation of the behavior of footings on geosynthetic reinforced sand. Soils Found 53(2):335–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayyar TSR, Dipu VS (1997) Coir geotextiles as reinforcement in foundations. Proceedings of coir board seminar on coir geotextiles. Coimbatore, India

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayyer TSR, Girish MS (2000) Improvement of durability of coir geotextiles. Proceedings of the Indian Geotechnical Conference, Bombay, pp 309–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Bathurst RJ, Jarrett PM (1989) Large-scale model tests of geocomposite mattresses over peat subgrades. Transp Res Rec 1188:28–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush DI, Jenner CG, Basset RH (1990) The design and construction of geocell foundation mattress supporting embankments over soft ground. Geotext Geomembr 9:83–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowland JW, Wong SCK (1993) Performance of a road embankment on soft clay supported on a geocell mattress foundation. Geotext Geomembr 12:687–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dash SK, Krishnaswamy NR, Rajagopal K (2001) Bearing capacity of strip footings supported on geocell-reinforced sand. Geotext Geomembr 19:235–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dash SK, Rajagopal K, Krishnaswamy NR (2004) Performance of different geosynthetic reinforcement materials in sand foundations. Geosynth Int 11(1):35–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datye KR (1988) Natural materials for soil reinforcement. International symposium on theory and practice of earth, Fukuoka, pp 69–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Guido VA, Chang DK, Sweeney MA (1986) Comparison of geogrid and geotextile reinforced earth slabs. Can Geotech J 23:435–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harikumar M, Sankar N, Chandrakaran S (2016) Behaviour of model footing on sand bed reinforced with multi-directional reinforcing elements. Geotext Geomembr 44(4):568–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedge A, Sitharam TG (2015) 3-dimensional numerical modelling of geocell reinforced sand beds. Geotext Geomembr 43(2):171–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khing KH, Das BM, Puri VK, Cook E, Yen SC (1993) The bearing capacity of a strip foundation on geogrid reinforced sand. Geotext Geomembr 12:351–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnaswamy NR, Rajagopal K, Latha GM (2000) Model studies on geocell supported embankments constructed over soft clay foundation. Geotech Test J, ASTM 23:45–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal D, Sankar N, Chandrakaran S (2017a) Effect of reinforcement form on the behaviour of coir geotextile-reinforced sand beds. Soils Found 57(2):227–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal D, Sankar N, Chandrakaran S (2017b) Performance of shallow foundations resting on coir geotextile reinforced sand bed. Soil Mech Found Eng 54(1):60–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal D, Sankar N, Chandrakaran S (2017c) Surface heave behaviour of coir geotextile reinforced sand beds. J Inst Eng India Ser A 98(1–2):121–125

  • Latha GM, Somwanshi A (2009) Effect of reinforcement form on the bearing capacity of square footings on sand. Geotext Geomembr 27(6):409–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lekha KR (1997) Coir geotextiles for erosion control along degraded hill slopes. Proceedings of seminar on coir geotextiles. Coimbatore, India

    Google Scholar 

  • Lekha KR, Kavitha V (2006) Coir geotextile reinforced clay dykes for drainage of low-lying areas. Geotext Geomembr 24(1):38–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patra CR, Das BM, Atalar C (2005) Bearing capacity of embedded strip foundation on geogrid-reinforced sand. Geotext Geomembr 23:454–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rao GV, Balan K (eds) (2000) Coir geotextiles-emerging trends. The Kerala State Coir Corporation Ltd, Alappuzha, Kerala

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh HR (1988) Bearing capacity of reinforced soil beds. Ph.D. thesis, Indian Institute of Science, India, 353 pp.

  • Sitharam TG, Sireesh S (2005) Behavior of embedded footings supported on geogrid cell reinforced foundation beds. Geotech Test J 28(5):452–463

    Google Scholar 

  • Sitharam TG, Sireesh S, Dash SK (2007) Performance of surface footing on geocell-reinforced soft clay beds. Geotech Geol Eng 25(5):509–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sivakumar Babu GL, Vasudevan AK, Sayida MK (2008) Use of coir fibers for improving the engineering properties of expansive soils. J Nat Fibers 5(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subaida EA, Chandrakaran S, Sankar N (2008) Experimental investigations on tensile and pullout behaviour of woven coir geotextiles. Geotext Geomembr 26(5):384–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subaida EA, Chandrakaran S, Sankar N (2009) Laboratory performance of unpaved roads reinforced with woven coir geotextiles. Geotext Geomembr 27(3):204–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tafreshi SNM, Dawson AR (2010) Comparison of bearing capacity of a strip footing on sand with geocell and with planar forms of geotextile reinforcement. Geotext Geomembr 28(1):72–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinod P, Ajitha B, Sreehari S (2009) Behavior of a square model footing on loose sand reinforced with braided coir rope. Geotext Geomembr 27:464–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yetimoglu T, Wu J, Saglamer A (1994) Bearing capacity of rectangular footings on geogrid-reinforced sand. J Geotech Eng Div ASCE 120:2083–2099

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Kerala, India

    Dharmesh Lal, Natesan Sankar & Sreedharan Chandrakaran

Authors
  1. Dharmesh Lal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Natesan Sankar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sreedharan Chandrakaran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dharmesh Lal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lal, D., Sankar, N. & Chandrakaran, S. Behaviour of square footing on sand reinforced with coir geocell. Arab J Geosci 10, 345 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3131-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3131-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation