SIMPLE PROCEDURE OF GEOGRID-SOIL INTERACTION EFFICIENCY ASSESMENT

Modern geotehnical practice often uses technique of reinforced soil - a composite of soil and reinforcement - mostly geotextiles or geogrids. The efficiency of soil reinforcement depends on soil-reinforcement interaction, which can be determined by testing models in complex laboratory procedures. In this article simple and quick experiment designed to give assistance in determination of most effective geogrid for some granular soil, in lack of complex, expensive and time-consuming test procedures is presented. The idea of proposed test is determination of angle of soil repose, which represents soil friction angle at small vertical stresses and should be higher for reinforced soil than for non-reinforced soil. It is expected that for different grids different angle of soil repose is formed, so comparison of grid efficiency could be made. Tests results show soil-grid interaction, but with limited reliability and with limited application for practical purposes.