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Mechanics and its applications for design of geossynthetic-reinforced roads

Geosynthetics have been successfully used to improve the performance of roads including unpaved and paved roads. The interactions between geosynthetic reinforcement and soil are not straightforward, which involve different mechanisms. Mechanics can be used to explain and analyze such interactions, such as lateral confinement and tensioned membrane effects. The rigorous solutions based on the mechanics are often complicated so that they cannot be easily adopted by designers. To bridge this gap, simplifications are often necessary to apply the mechanics to the design of geosynthetic-reinforced roads, for example, the use of the stress distribution angle method instead of the layered elastic theory. This presentation will discuss the mechanics governing the interactions between geosynthetic reinforcement and soil and describe the necessary steps taken to apply the mechanics to the development of the simplified solutions for the design of geosynthetic-reinforced roads.

Author(s):

Jie Han    
The University of Kansas
United States