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Numerical and experimental study on the effect of fiber reinforcement on the shear strength and hydraulic conductivity of Chlef soil

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Abstract

This paper examines the effect of fiber content and relative density (RD) on the hydro-mechanical behavior of Chlef sand. The hydro-mechanical behavior of the sand-fiber mixture was evaluated by 45 permeability tests and 30 direct shear tests in the laboratory. Tests were performed on reconstituted specimens at different relative densities (RD = 15, 50 and 70%) and at different commercial polypropylene fiber contents (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1%). The results indicate that adding polypropylene fibers reduces the hydraulic conductivity (k) in the range of 0% to 0.5% and then increases in the range of 0.5% to 1%. In addition, higher relative density (RD) values in the mixtures increase hydraulic conductivity (k). The results also show that shear strength, cohesion c, and friction angle φ are improved in the range of 0% to 0.5% and then increased in the range of 0.5% to 1%. The finite element method was used to simulate the drained behavior of the sand. The aim is to obtain a simple soil model from a numerical analysis to represent the studied material’s drained behavior.

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Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Abbreviations

G s :

Sand specific gravity

D 10 :

Effective diameter

D 50 :

Average diameter

C u :

Coefficient of uniformity

C c :

Coefficient of curvature

e max :

Maximum void ratio

e min :

Minimum void ratio

\(\sigma_{n}\) :

Normal stress

\(\tau\) :

Shear strength

RD:

Relative density

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination

DF:

Diameter of polypropylene fibers

LF:

Length of polypropylene fibers

\(\varphi\) :

Internal friction angle

E :

Young’s modulus

C :

Cohesion

Ѱ:

Dilatation angle

ν :

Poisson’s ratio

\(E_{50}^{{^{{{\text{ur}}}} }}\) :

Stiffness modulus

\(E_{{{\text{oed}}}}^{{^{{{\text{ur}}}} }}\) :

Oedometer modulus

γ unsat :

Unsaturated volume weight

γ unsat :

Saturated volume weight

\(\Delta H\) :

Horizontal displacement

\(\Delta V\) :

Vertical displacement

\(f\) :

Fibers content

k :

Hydraulic conductivity

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Acknowledgements

Chlef university authors thank the reviewers for their detailed remarks. Tests were performed in the Laboratory of Material Sciences and Environment (LsmE) at UHBC University of Chlef.

Funding

Direction Générale de la Recherche Scientifique et du Développement Technologique.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LsmE Laboratory of Materials Sciences and Environment, Univ. UHBC Hassiba Benbouali of Chlef, 02091, Chlef, Algeria

    Abdelkader Brahimi, Djamel Eddine Bouri, Zohra Boutaraa, Benali Nougar, Abdellah Krim, Mohammed Chemmam & Ahmed Arab

  2. Civil Engineering and Hydraulics Department, University Center of Mila, Institute of Science and Technology, Mila, Algeria

    Abdelkader Brahimi

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  1. Abdelkader Brahimi
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  2. Djamel Eddine Bouri
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  3. Zohra Boutaraa
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  4. Benali Nougar
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  6. Mohammed Chemmam
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  7. Ahmed Arab
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Contributions

AB contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, investigation. DEB contributed to methodology, conceptualization, Writing. ZB contributed to writing—review and editing. BN contributed to data curation, conceptualization. AK contributed to supervision, methodology. MC contributed to data curation, conceptualization. AA contributed to conceptualization, supervision, methodology.

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Correspondence to Abdelkader Brahimi.

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Brahimi, A., Bouri, D.E., Boutaraa, Z. et al. Numerical and experimental study on the effect of fiber reinforcement on the shear strength and hydraulic conductivity of Chlef soil. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 8, 40 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-022-01011-7

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