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Evaluating the Applicability of Geocell-Reinforced Dredged Sand Using Plate and Wheel Load Testing

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Abstract

Mismanagement of large amounts of sediment from dredged harbors has resulted in major environmental and economic problems in some coastal areas. The beneficial use of dredged material can reduce the volume of these materials, but their insufficient strength for engineering applications makes them more appropriate for use in soil improvement. The geocell-reinforcement technique can be implemented to increase the strength and stiffness of weak soil. This paper investigates reuse of dredged sand as backfill in a road embankment by employing the full-scale wheel and plate loading technique. In order to achieve a suitable layered system, which satisfies deflection criteria and rutting limitations, the backfill was reinforced with geocells having different cover layers (well-graded gravel and dredged sand). The results revealed that the load-bearing capacity can be doubled with the use of geocell reinforcement accompanied by well-graded gravel as the cover layer. In this regard, the wheel rut depth was reduced to one third of that of the unreinforced backfill.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Shahid Rajaee Port and the Persian Gulf branch of the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kharazmi University, No. 49 Mofatteh Ave., Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Taha Tabatabaei Aghda, Ali Ghanbari & Gholamhosein Tavakoli Mehrjardi

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  1. Seyed Taha Tabatabaei Aghda
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  2. Ali Ghanbari
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  3. Gholamhosein Tavakoli Mehrjardi
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Correspondence to Seyed Taha Tabatabaei Aghda.

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Tabatabaei Aghda, S.T., Ghanbari, A. & Tavakoli Mehrjardi, G. Evaluating the Applicability of Geocell-Reinforced Dredged Sand Using Plate and Wheel Load Testing. Transp. Infrastruct. Geotech. 6, 21–38 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-018-00067-2

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