Effect of aperture size on the interface shear behavior of gridded cementitious geocomposite on sand soil with different relative densities

Abstract

This study investigates the interface shear behavior of the cementitious geocomposite in sand soil, considering different aperture sizes (i.e., 10x10 mm, 15x15 mm, and 25x25 mm) for the geocomposite and different relative densities (i.e., 30%, 60%, and 90%) for the sand soil. Cementitious geocomposite reinforced results were compared with unreinforced results in terms of interfacial shear behavior, dilation behavior, peak state friction angle, critical state friction angle, excess friction angle, and latest dilation value. The stress-dilatancy relationship was also examined. The results of the laboratory experiments revealed that the peak shear stress, peak state friction angle, and maximum dilatation angle increase with increasing relative density for all tests. The reinforcement of the soil with cementitious geocomposite led to an increase in both the peak shear stress and the peak state friction angle values; in addition, a decrease in the aperture size of the cementitious geocomposite resulted in an increase in the peak shear stress, the peak state friction angle, and critical state friction angle. Furthermore, the linear weighted sum optimization analysis revealed that decreasing the aperture size has a positive effect. Specifically, the soil reinforced with a 10 mm aperture size cementitious geocomposite exhibited a maximum improvement of 20.18% in peak state friction angle compared to the unreinforced case.