scholarly journals Measuring the Strength of Root-Reinforced Soil on Steep Natural Slopes Using the Corkscrew Extraction Method

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit Meijer ◽  
Glyn Bengough ◽  
Jonathan Knappett ◽  
Kenneth Loades ◽  
Bruce Nicoll

Roots can help to stabilise slopes against landslides and anchor trees against wind loading, but their mechanical contribution to the strength of soil is difficult to rapidly quantify under field conditions. A new field measurement method, quantifying the shear strength of rooted soil by measuring the resistance against extraction of soil cores using a large corkscrew device, was tested across three heterogeneous slopes (unforested, forested and clearfelled) in Scotland. The presence of roots significantly increased the measured shear strength in the surface layer of the Sitka spruce forested slope. Differences in strength between the three areas were however not significant. This could be attributed to the large variation in the soil component of the combined root–soil shear strength, which was strongly affected by variations in both soil density and gravel content. Measured strength on these natural slopes were much more variable compared to previously investigated sites. These results highlight the importance of investigating the variation in soil strength during root-reinforcement measurements, and furthermore demonstrate the need for a sufficiently large number of tests to address this variation. The corkscrew provides rapid estimation of root-reinforced soil shear strength on sites with difficult accessibility. Compared to the more conventional shear vane method, which yielded comparable soil strength results, the corkscrew proved more suitable in stony soil layers and has the additional benefit of simultaneously extracting small (rooted) soil samples that could be used for further root and soil analysis. It therefore proved a useful and effective field tool for use when a rapid estimation of root-reinforced soil shear strength is required.

2014 ◽  
Vol 501-504 ◽  
pp. 403-409
Author(s):  
Xue Han ◽  
Zi Long Zhao ◽  
Zi Rui Gao

In order to study characteristics of soil strength freeze-thaw weakening in the Songhua River Songpu bank,basic physical parameters tests and triaxial compression tests were performed on that paragraph bank .The results showed that: after thawing the sample cohesion will drop substantially, the internal friction angle will increase greatly and soil shear strength will increase significantly; the cohesion of sample after repeated freezing and thawing will significantly decline,internal friction angle of soil will greatly increase,the soil shear strength will increase after the first freezing and thawing,with the increase in the number of freeze-thaw cycles, the soil shear strength will significantly decline. The results can provide Songhua slope stability analysis with a scientific basis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 01006
Author(s):  
Amirreza Pourfatollah ◽  
Ali Pirjalili ◽  
Aliakbar Golshani

The bearing capacity of a pile group mostly depends on parameters of the soil shear strength affected by the soil-water characteristics, especially in unsaturated soils. The soil shear strength is entirely affected by hydraulic stresses in unsaturated soil, such as precipitation and evaporation. Further, the bearing capacity of the pile installed on unsaturated soil depends on hydraulic stresses applied to the soil. Furthermore, slope vicinity may cause a severe decline in the pile bearing capacity. The present study aimed to investigate a pile group in unsaturated soil adjacent to a slope and analyzed the effect of the rainfall on the soil strength parameters. Thus, a numerical study has been performed using a finite difference software,i.e., FLAC2D. Besides, to investigate the model in a real situation, the intensity and duration of rainfall are considered to evaluate changes in hydraulic stresses. Finally, the results show that the rainfall causes a considerable decrease in soil strength parameters in unsaturated soil, leading to the reduction of the pile group bearing capacity and slope stability.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-127
Author(s):  
Jonas Amšiejus

Designing foundations by soil safety factors is used for obtaining soil strength design values. The methods [10, 11, 12, 13] used for their calculations and minimal values of investigated coefficients are provided in the standards. The design values of soil characteristics computed by different methods do not match. In reality they should ensure the unique reliability of soil shear strength design values. In the present work, the soil shear strength values are computed by different methods. The experimental data are obtained for sands using direct shear strength apparatus. The comparative analysis of obtained results and methods for predicting the design values of soil strength characteristics is applied. When designing foundations, the relation between soil shear strength and normal stress is treated as linear (1, 2), but the dependency of the lower control limit on normal stress is nonlinear (5). Therefore, methods for getting experimental data of soil shear strength give different results. In corresponding standards, different additional conditions are considered for approximation of the investigated non-linear dependency to the linear one. The soil safety factors used for computing design values of tangent of internal friction angle and cohesion depend on these additional conditions. The approximation of non-linear dependency to the linear one does not allow ensuring the unique probability of soil shear strength design values. It is impossible to ensure the desired unique probability for different values of normal stress using traditional methods and constant soil safety factors. In order to obtain the same probability for soil shear strength values lower than the designed value, the probability-statistical methods should be applied. In this article, the method for determining soil shear strength design values is presented (10, 11). This method ensures the same probability of the soil shear strength design values for any values of normal stress. The probability-statistical methods should be applied for design of foundations when soil strength design values depend on normal stress. In order to apply the investigated methods, the probability of foundation collapse or reliability index β, the mean values of soil strength and their variance should be known. Dimensions of the foundation are obtained from mean value sand variance of soil strength characteristics solving the system of equations (13). The solution of this system is a combination of arguments of foundation design conditions that are investigated as normal random variable. The investigated combination corresponds to the limit state.


2013 ◽  
Vol 838-841 ◽  
pp. 981-986
Author(s):  
Mo Zhen Hu ◽  
Zhen Yao Xia ◽  
Yue Shu Yang ◽  
Li Deng ◽  
Xiao Pei Xu

This paper discusses the relationship between shear strength of soil-root composite and root content of different plant species. The direct shear test of root - soil composite was made by grass and shrub plants -- alfalfa, Indigofera amblyatha, cynodon dactylon and purple soil .That how plant root system can improve the soil shear strength was analyzed. The results show that the shear strength of reinforced soil is increased. When the same plant root-soil composite is under the same root content, the shear strength is enhanced with the increase of normal stress. The peak value of shear strength appears in 0.4 - 0.5g per 60 cubic centimeter.


Author(s):  
Andrew Lees ◽  
Michael Dobie

Polymer geogrid reinforced soil retaining walls have become commonplace, with routine design generally carried out by limiting equilibrium methods. Finite element analysis (FEA) is becoming more widely used to assess the likely deformation behavior of these structures, although in many cases such analyses over-predict deformation compared with monitored structures. Back-analysis of unit tests and instrumented walls improves the techniques and models used in FEA to represent the soil fill, reinforcement and composite behavior caused by the stabilization effect of the geogrid apertures on the soil particles. This composite behavior is most representatively modeled as enhanced soil shear strength. The back-analysis of two test cases provides valuable insight into the benefits of this approach. In the first case, a unit cell was set up such that one side could yield thereby reaching the active earth pressure state. Using FEA a test without geogrid was modeled to help establish appropriate soil parameters. These parameters were then used to back-analyze a test with geogrid present. Simply using the tensile properties of the geogrid over-predicted the yield pressure but using an enhanced soil shear strength gave a satisfactory comparison with the measured result. In the second case a trial retaining wall was back-analyzed to investigate both deformation and failure, the failure induced by cutting the geogrid after construction using heated wires. The closest fit to the actual deformation and failure behavior was provided by using enhanced fill shear strength.


2014 ◽  
Vol 635-637 ◽  
pp. 750-754
Author(s):  
Peng Hu ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
Yi Wei Xu ◽  
Nan Ying Shentu ◽  
Quan Yuan Peng

Expound the importance of soil shear strength measurement at mudslide hidden point to release the loss caused by the disaster, explain the relationship between shear wave velocity, moisture content and shear strength, design the shear strength monitoring system combining the shear wave velocity measured by Piezoelectric bender elements and moisture content.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.36) ◽  
pp. 424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwel Joseph Henri Nainggolan ◽  
Wiwik Rahayu ◽  
Puspita Lisdiyanti

In recent years, utilization of biotechnology in geotechnical field has rapidly grown. One of the biotechnologies being utilized is urease enzyme, a stabilization material by bio-cementation method studied in this research.  Urease enzyme is manually mixed with additional 10% of clay soil to clay shale. The objective of mixing it is to increase the bearing capacity of the clay shale. Consolidated undrained triaxial test was performed for testing the soil strength performance for samples that had undergone curing for 2, 4, and 6 weeks. The results indicated that the sample stiffens, proved by the increase of shear strength from consolidated undrained triaxial test. The shear strength value produced by the variation of the urease enzyme mixture + 10% the clay is higher than that of without the original clay shale.  


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Zhang ◽  
Jinhua Cheng ◽  
Ying Liu ◽  
Hongjiang Zhang ◽  
Lan Ma ◽  
...  

As a basal measure of soil bioengineering, the living brush mattress has been widely applied in riparian ecological protection forest construction. The living brush mattress shows favorable protective effects on riverbanks. However, there are few reports on the root structure and the soil strengthening benefit of the living brush mattress. The present work reports a series of experiments on root morphology and soil shear strength enhancement at the temporal and spatial scales. The object of the study is 24 living brush mattress trees constructed with Salix alba L. ‘Tristis’ (LBS hereafter). Traditional root morphology and mechanical measurement methods were used to collect the parameters. The results showed that the root systems of LBS had the characteristics of symmetry and upslope growth. The roots were mainly distributed in a cylindrical region of the soil (radius × thickness: 0.4 m × 0.5 m) and their biomass increased with different growth rates for the periods from 1 to 5 and from 5 to 7 years. Both age and slope position were factors that influence root growth. The root diameter falls within 0–5 mm, has a significant effect on the soil shear strength and provides a conical-shape potentiation zone to ensure the efficient protection of a riverbank. The results of this study demonstrate that LBS is an efficient and feasible engineering measure in the field of riverbank protection.


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