Design of geosynthetic reinforcements for platforms subjected to localized sinkholes

Construction of road and railway platforms in areas subject to localized sinkholes requires the use of specific reinforcements, for example, geosynthetics. The current design method for these structures is based on the assumption that there is no displacement of the geosynthetic in the anchorage areas on either side of the cavity. A new analytical method is proposed that takes into account the displacements and deformation of the geosynthetic reinforcement in the anchorage areas and the increase in stress at the edge of the cavity. To validate this new analytical method, a full-scale experiment was carried out; the use of optical fibre sensors integrated into the geosynthetic sheet made it possible to accurately measure the strain of the geosynthetic reinforcement. Comparison of the results obtained by this new analytical method with measurements of a full-scale experiment and the results of a finite element model confirmed the relevance of these new developments.