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Reinforced Composites for Resilient Reinforced Soil Slopes to Prevent Rainfall Induced Failures
K Dhanya A,
Published in ASCE
2022
Pages: 605 - 614
Abstract

Rainfall induced slope failures are becoming a major threat in unsaturated soil slopes worldwide. Major part of Kerala state in India, especially the hilly regions are covered with residual lateritic soil that are formed under the process of weathering and mineralogical changes in the parent rock. Matric suction within the natural soil slopes contribute to its stability in the unsaturated state as it increases the shear strength. Many rainfall induced slope failures were reported in lateritic soil slopes in Kerala, during monsoon seasons of 2018, 2019, and 2020. An attempt was made to check the feasibility of application of geosynthetic reinforced composites in repairing and reconstructing a failed soil slope by means of resilient reinforced soil structures. The reinforced composites used in the present study was a knitted polypropylene non-woven geotextile, reinforced with high-tenacity polyester yarns in both machine and cross machine directions. The geotechnical characterization of the soil collected from the failed slope was carried out. Soil water characteristic curve of the lateritic soil and geosynthetic water characteristic curve of the hybrid geosynthetics were experimentally determined. Rainfall infiltration analysis was conducted in order to check the resilience or adaptation of the geosynthetics reinforced soil slopes to a changing climate. The stability analysis confirmed that the unreinforced soil slopes fail at the onset of rainfall infiltration whereas reinforced slope with reinforced composites helped in maintaining the integrity of slopes.

About the journal
JournalASCE Geotechnical Special Publication GSP 331,
PublisherASCE