Strength and Dilatancy of Sands Mixed with Jute Fibre

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt is made to evaluate the strength and dilatancy parameters of sands mixed with jute fibres. A series of direct shear tests were performed on sample of sands with mixture of 0, 0.25 and 0.50% of jute fibres at three different relative density states, namely loose, medium dense and dense, the effect of stress level is also bought out by varying the effective normal stress. The tests were conducted on dry sand having different relative densities (i.e. 20, 50 and 80%) subjecting them to different constant values of vertical normal stress ranging from 50 to 400 kPa. At each stress level and density state for each case of sand fibre mixture, peak frictional angle and dilatancy angle were found out by conducting direct shear tests. A series of the direct shear tests were conducted up to shear strain value of 40%. The stress-strain response was observed, and the shear strength and dilatancy parameters were obtained for sand–jute fibre mixture with each relative density and normal stresses. Also, a correlation between peak friction angle, dilatancy angle and critical state friction angle was obtained for sands mixed with jute fibre. The present data was also compared with those of the previous established correlations by Bolton (Geotechnique 36(1):65–78, 1986) and Kumar et al. (Indian Geotech J 37(1):53, 2007).