Split tensile strength of monofilament polypropylene fiber-reinforced cemented sandy soils

摘要

ABSTRACT: The present research aims to quantify the influence of the amount of cement, thenporosity, and the voids/cement ratio in assessment of the split tensile strength (qt) of a sandy soilnwhen reinforced and non-reinforced with fibers. A series of split tensile tests were carried out innthe present work. The results show that fiber insertion in the cemented soil, for the whole rangenof cement studied, causes an increase in split tensile strength. The split tensile strength (qt)nincreased linearly with the amount of cement (C), and a power function fits well as the relationnbetween split tensile strength (qt) and porosity (u0001) for both the fiber-reinforced and non-reinforcednspecimens. It was also shown that the voids/cement ratio, in which volumetric cementitiousnmaterial content is adjusted by an exponent (0.28 for both the fiber-reinforced and non-reinforcedncemented soil mixtures) to result in unique correlations for each mixture, is a good parameter innthe evaluation of the split tensile strength of the fiber-reinforced and non-reinforced cemented soilnstudied. This experimental framework will enable a good definition of mechanical parameters usednin the design of foundations and subgrades of roads and railways platform (whose system failurenmechanisms usually start under tensile stresses at the base of the improved layer) and for theirnexecution quality control.