Strength of soil reinforced with fiber materials (Papyrus)

Construction of building and other civil engineering structures on weak or soft soil is highly risky because such soil is susceptible to differential settlements, poor shear strength, and high compressibility. Various soil improvement techniques have been used to enhance the engineering properties of soil. Soil reinforcement by fiber material is considered an effective ground improvement method because of its cost effectiveness, easy adaptability, and reproducibility. Hence, in the present investigation, papyrus fiber has been chosen as the reinforcement material, and it was randomly included into the soil at four different percentages of fiber content, i.e., 5, 10, 15, 25% by volume of raw soil. The main objective of this research is to focus on the strength behavior of soil reinforced with randomly included papyrus fiber. Direct shear, consolidation, and displacement tests were performed on papyrusreinforced specimens with various fiber contents. The results of these tests have clearly shown a significant improvement in the failure deviator stress and shear strength parameters (c and φ) of the studied soil with a percent addition of 10% (the preferred percent). Moreover, this addition ratio reduced the displacement of the soil under loading. It can be concluded that papyrus fiber can be considered an appropriate soil reinforcement material.