Settlement Improvement of Weak Semi-Saturated Soil under Different Dynamic Load by a Geogrid Reinforcement

Abstract

Dynamic loads falling freely on the surface of weak and semi-saturated soils were used to measure the amount of consolidation settlement(CS) that occurred by using a rectangular solid steelConsolidation Box(CB) with dimensions of 75cm width*150cm length*75cm height. The CS was measured in two cases, the first using a number of blows of 5 and retesting three times with 4.5kg, 7.5kg, 10kg dynamic loads for both reinforced and non-reinforced soils with geogrid, and the second using a number of blows of 10 and retesting three times with the same mentioned loads also for both reinforced and non-reinforced soils. It was found that the CS% of the reinforced weak semi-saturated soil with geogrid has been reduced by 30% and that there is a linear relationship between the dynamic loads and CS%.