Accelerated consolidation of coir reinforced lithomargic laterite soil blends with vertical sand drains for pavements

Abstract

It is found that sub-grade soils of lateritic origin encountered in the construction of highway embankments in various regions of India, often comprise intrusions of soft lithomargic soils that result in large settlements during constructions, and differential settlements at later stages. This necessitates the use of appropriate soil improvement techniques to improve the load-carrying capacity of pavements. This work deals with the accelerated consolidation of un-reinforced and coir-reinforced laterite and blended lithomargic soils, provided with three vertical sand drains. The load-settlement characteristics were studied for various preloads ranging from 50kg (0.0013 N/mm2) to 500kg (0.013N/mm2). Studies were performed using circular ferro-cement moulds. It was observed that at lower preloads of up to 250kg, the relative increase in consolidation (Rct) for randomly reinforced soil with vertical drains was significantly higher than that of un-reinforced soil without vertical drains. Also, the Rct for un-reinforced soil with vertical drains was quite higher than that of un-reinforced soil without vertical drains, with an average value of 20.84%. In the case of higher preloads the Rct values for randomly reinforced soil with vertical drains were moderate with an average value of 22.67%. An additional increase of up to 27% at lower pre-loads and 11.83% at higher pre-loads was observed due to the effect of random reinforcement when compared to use of vertical drains alone. © 2012 ejge.