Reinforced Soil and Its Engineering Applications

Book excerpt: Reinforced soil is a composite material formed by the association of frictional soil and tension resistant elements in the form of sheets, strips, nets or mats of metal, synthetic fabrics or fibre reinforced plastics and arranged in the soil mass in such a way as to reduce or suppress the tensile strain which might develop under gravity and boundary forces. The range of applications of reinforced soil technique is unlimited. Jones (1985) identified several field applications, viz. retaining walls, abutments, quay walls, embankments, dams, hill roads, housing, foundations, railways, industry, pipe works, waterway structures and underground structures. In several countries structures have been constructed using this technique and the concept is becoming increasingly popular by the day. The book covers all the important topics like Basic Components, Strength Characteristics, Frictional Characteristics, Randomly Distributed Reinforced Soil etc. Each chapter is supported by illustrative examples, which make the text easy to understand. The book would well serve and benefit undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and professional geotechnical engineers.