Long Term Behaviors of Geosynthetics Reinforced Soil Walls

Geosynthetics reinforced soil (GRS) walls with a flexible wall face allow deformation. GRS walls constructed on the weak ground change in both horizontal earth pressures on wall faces and the tensile stress of geosynthetics, affecting the backfill in time until the deformation of the backfill and the foundation is completed. However, there are few studies that were done to measure and analyze the horizontal earth pressures and geosynthetics deformation on GRS walls constructed on the soft ground for a long period of time. Two field GRS walls in this study are constructed on a shallow layer of a weak foundation to measure and analyze geostynthetics deformation, horizontal earth pressures, and pore water pressures for the duration of approximately 16 months. Strain gauges are used to measure geosynthetics deformation; this study specifically suggests a new method of measuring nonwoven geotextile using strain gauges. Most geosynthetics deformation occurred within a month after the construction of GRS walls. The maximum deformation measured for approximately 16 months appeared as follows: nowoven geotextile: 6.05%, woven geotextile: 2.92%, and geogrid: 2.33%. Pore water pressures on the GRS wall can be ignored; however, horizontal earth pressures on the bottom and the upper part of the wall face appear larger than earth pressures at rest.