Failure mechanism of a geogrid reinforced abutment on soft soil

摘要

Geosynthetics can be effectively used to reinforce embankments on soft soils. However, some times basic conditions to be fulfilled for a satisfactory performance of the reinforced structure may be overlooked. This paper describes a case-history where the lack of observation of some basic concepts for this type of work almost yielded to a catastrophic failure of a reinforced abutment on soft clay. The main reasons for that were bad construction practice and insufficient design considerations. Even under these circumstances, the presence of the reinforcement layer minimised the consequences of the failure mechanism developed "and showed the influence of reinforcement tensile stiffness on the reduction of the horizontal displacements of the embankment.