ANALYSIS OF THE STRESS-DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF A FIBER REINFORCED SOIL
reinforced soil; triaxial test; constitutive model
Is presenting an experimental study with copolymer fiber reinforced dune sand, through the execution of conventional isotropically drained (CID) consolidated triaial tests and for different stress trajectories. Samples with dimensions larger than the conventional ones (100 x 200mm) were used, in order to obtain more representative results of a reinforced soil mass. To make the samples, fibers with different lengths (12, 5, 25 and 51mm) and contents (0.5%, 1, 0%) were used, in order to evaluate the influence of the fiber characteristics on the stress-strain behavior. ̃ation of the composite. The CID triaxial compression tests were performed in duplicate for four confines (50, 100, 200 and 400kP a), and 4 dq/dp stress trajectories (3, 1, 5, 10 and −3), making a total of 60 triaxial tests. Sand characterization was carried out with granulometric tests, maximum and minimum void index, specific mass of solids and permeability tests. For a better evaluation of the influence of the composites characteristics on the shear strength, a compilation of data from the literature was carried out to contribute to the formulation of an empirical model to predict the increase in deflection stress due to fiber inclusion. In order to deepen the prediction of behavior, the Machado, Carvalho and Vilar (2002) model, modified for soil/fiber, was tested to simulate the stress-strain and axial strain vs. volumetric strain behavior. The results indicate, in general, that the inclusion of fiber increases the shear strength of the soil, essentially for the highest contents and lengths tested in this research. The empirical model showed good adherence to the predicted data and the simulations with the modified model by Machado, Carvalho and Vilar (2002) present good predictive capacity for the mechanical behavior of the composite.