Effects of the first reinforcement depth on different types of geosynthetics

This study investigates the performance of the first reinforcement layer depth for sand subbase of a road or construction by plate load laboratory tests. Unreinforced and reinforced experiments on different reinforcement types were made by changing depth ratio of the first reinforcement layer. One type of geotextile and two different geogrid specimens were used in the research. 'Load-settlement curves' and 'Bearing Ratios' were studied by measuring the results of different settlement ratios. Finally, laboratory measurements of unreinforced and reinforced soils using geotextile reinforcement were compared with Finite- Element Model (FEM) analyses modeled in similar conditions. The results demonstrated the effects of different types of reinforcements for different first reinforcement layer locations. The number of reinforcement layers was another parameter that affected the bearing ratio along with the first reinforcement layer depths. It was also observed that the bearing ratio (BR) and load-settlement behavior changed significantly with the first reinforcement depth and settlements. Effects on failure modes for unreinforced and reinforced sand soils were compared for each test.