Applications of Fibre Reinforced Soils

Chapter 5
Applications of Fibre-Reinforced Soil
5.1 Introduction
In the previous chapters, you studied about the basic characteristics of soils and
fibres, engineering behaviour of fibre-reinforced soils with or without other admix-
tures/additives (lime, cement, fly ash, etc.) and reinforcing mechanisms and
models. In most applications, the discrete fibres are simply added and mixed
randomly with soil or other similar materials (coal ashes, mine tailings, etc.), in
much the same way as lime, cement or other additives are used to stabilize and
improve the soil. However, some difficulties occur at the construction site in getting
a uniform mixture of soil and fibres. In the present-day construction practice, the
use of fibres is one of the cost-effective and environmentally friendly ground
improvement techniques. This chapter describes the possible field applications of
fibre-reinforced soils, focusing on presenting specific application/construction
guidelines.
5.2 Field Applications
Reinforcing the soil with discrete fibres is a ground improvement technique that has
not yet been fully utilized worldwide as this technique can be adopted in the
present-day engineering practice. This is probably because of unavailability of
standards and codes of practice, especially in developing countries. In comparison
with the systematically reinforced soils (i.e. soils with oriented reinforcements such
as the geosynthetic-reinforced soils), the randomly distributed/oriented fibre-
reinforced soils exhibit some advantages, as listed below:
1. Preparation of randomly distributed fibre-reinforced soils mimics the conven-
tional/traditional soil stabilization techniques, which uses the admixtures, such
as lime, cement, fly ash, etc. Hence, the field application or construction
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 145

S.K. Shukla, Fundamentals of Fibre-Reinforced Soil Engineering,
Developments in Geotechnical Engineering, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3063-5_5
146 5 Applications of Fibre-Reinforced Soil
procedure may be similar to that adopted for conventional soil stabilization

techniques.
2. Addition of fibre reinforcement in soil causes a significant improvement in
strength and stiffness, although a decrease in stiffness may take place as
reported in some studies.
3. Fibre-reinforced soil exhibits greater toughness and ductility and smaller losses
of post-peak strength as compared to soil alone.
4. Addition of fibres improves the permeability and compressibility/swelling
characteristics of soils.
5. Inclusion of fibres improves the load-carrying capacity of soils.
6. Addition of fibres significantly decreases the liquefaction potential of coarse
silts and fine sands.
7. Randomly distributed fibres with even orientations in all directions offer a
better isotropy in strength or other properties and limit the potential planes of
weakness that can develop parallel to the oriented reinforcement as included in
a systematically reinforced soil.
8. Before the failure takes place, because of greater extensibility characteristics of
fibre-reinforced soils, one can notice large strains/deformations in the fibre-
reinforced soil structures, and hence, suitable corrective measures may be taken
easily within the available time.
9. Fibre-reinforced soil can facilitate reinforcement of geoenvironmental barriers
where continuous/systematic reinforcements may result in a preferential path-
way for contaminant migrations.
10. Traditional planar reinforcements, such as geosynthetic reinforcements, when
used in slopes and other such irregular sections, need anchorage and excavation
into the slope, and there is a possibility of failures in addition to difficulty in
placement. The use of fibre reinforcement in these applications provides a
flexible solution.
11. Compared to the geosynthetic reinforcements, the fibre reinforcement can be
used in a limited space, especially for the stabilization of failed soil slopes.
12. The use of fibre reinforcement can result in economical solutions because fibres
have lower cost, and at some construction sites, they may be available freely as
geonaturals or waste materials, such as old tyres and plastics.
In view of several advantages and favourable characteristics, the fibre-reinforced
soils have a great potential for their applications in several areas, and they are now
recognized as a viable ground improvement technique. The key applications are the
following:
• Geotechnical applications: backfills behind the retaining structures; stabilization of
soils beneath the footings and rafts; stabilization of failed soil slopes; construction
of embankments using marginal soils, and over weak soils, such as organic soft soil
deposits; lightweight fill materials; admixtures in fine sands and silts to increase the
resistance to liquefaction; and strengthening the granular piles and trenches
• Transportation applications: pavement subgrades, subbases and bases, espe-
cially for low-volume roads; drainage layers for roads, runways, playgrounds,
etc.; thermal insulator for limiting the frost penetration; and vibration damping
layers beneath railway tracks
5.2 Field Applications 147
• Hydraulic and geoenvironmental applications: admixtures in soil to control the

hydraulic conductivity; improving the soil resistance against water and wind
erosion; stabilization of thin soil veneers, landfill liners and final covers; admix-
tures for mitigating the formation of shrinkage/desiccation cracks in compacted
clays; controlling seepage and preventing the piping erosion in dams and other
water-retaining structures (river levees, contour bunds, canal diversion works,
check dams, etc.); leachate collection systems; and geotextile tube dewatering
applications
In reinforcement applications, the fibres are generally most effective when
oriented within the soil mass in the same direction as the tensile strains caused by
the applied loads. Hence, for any particular loading condition, the properties of
fibre-reinforced soil depend significantly on the orientation of fibres with respect to
the loading direction.
In the laboratory testing and the field/practical applications, the distribution of
fibres can usually be characterized by a preferred plane of fibre orientation
(Michalowski and Cermak 2002; Diambra et al. 2007). The orientation of fibres
depends on the following:
• Method of mixing of soil with fibres
• Specimen preparation method for tests
• Method of field placement
The laboratory test specimens are prepared in two stages, namely, mixing and
compaction. Water, as required, is added to the dry soil, and then mixed together
uniformly, followed by adding the fibres to the wet soil and mixing in order to have
the even distribution of fibres. The test specimens in the desired test mould are
prepared by one of the following techniques (Michalowski and Cermak 2002;
Diambra et al. 2010; Ibraim et al. 2012):
• Tamping technique: the soil-fibre mix is compacted in specific number of layers
by tamping with a rammer having a flat base.
• Vibration technique: the soil-fibre mix is densified by vibrating the test mould
filled with the soil-fibre mix on a vibration table.
Tamping and vibration techniques for preparing the fibre-reinforced soil speci-
mens in moist conditions lead to a preferred near-horizontal orientation of fibres.
Both techniques leave at least 80% of the fibres oriented between 30 of
horizontal, and 97% of fibres have an orientation that lies within 45 of the
horizontal plane. These techniques generally produce a soil fabric/structure that
resembles that of the rolled-compacted construction fills (Diambra et al. 2010;
Ibraim et al. 2012). Hence, inclusion of fibres in soil in the field application may
not result in isotropic properties of fibre-reinforced soil as generally considered, and
hence the use of some simplified isotropic models, as discussed in Chap. 4, may not
result in accurate predictions of the benefits attributed to fibres. For cases where the
predominant load is perpendicular to the preferred plane of fibre orientation, the
isotropic models, in general, under-predict the benefits from the fibres
(Michalowski and Cermak 2002).
As there are several factors affecting the engineering characteristics of fibre-

reinforced soil (see Sect. 3.2), the selection of fibres for any specific application
may not be an easy task. In spite of the fact that a significant amount of research has
been carried out worldwide, there is currently no scientific standard or code of
practice on fibre-reinforced soils and their applications. Typically, the selection
should consider the following (Hoover et al. 1982):
1. Survivability of the fibres within the soil mass with consideration of varying
nature of the soil-water system in regard to alkalinity, chemical composition,
temperature and environmental variations
2. Range of required mechanical properties of the fibres
3. Availability of fibres in length range required for the specific application
4. Potential inability to properly incorporate fibres into the soil to a random state of
orientation
5. Procurement cost of fibres
5.3 Analysis and Design Concepts
In Chap. 3, you learnt that the engineering behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil is

governed by a large number of factors/parameters. As described in Chap. 4,
attempts have been made to idealize the behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil, and
several models are now available to predict the specific engineering behaviour of
fibre-reinforced soil. However, it is difficult to suggest sound and rational design
methods for specific applications of fibre-reinforced soil as listed in the previous
section. Section 5.4 discusses the experience gained in some specific applications
and provides several application guidelines. Analysis and design concepts relating
the basic characteristics of fibre-reinforced soils for some field applications are
presented in this section. The actual design of the structure can be carried out in a
conventional way, considering the fibre-reinforced soil as one of the materials used
for the construction of a specific structure. For the final analysis and design of a
structure being constructed with fibre-reinforced soil, if possible, a suitable field
test should be carried out based on the detailed laboratory findings and observations
of the behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil.
Design of fibre-reinforced soil structures can be carried out by adopting one of
the following two approaches:
1. Composite approach: The fibre-reinforced soil structure is analysed in a tradi-
tional way, considering the engineering properties of fibre-reinforced soil as a
homogeneous material. It is based on the fact that inclusion of fibres contributes
to stability due to an increase in shear strength of the homogenized composite
reinforced soil mass, although the reinforcing fibres actually work in tension and
not in shear. The contribution of the fibres is typically quantified by an equiv-
alent cohesion intercept and angle of internal friction angle of the soil. Several
composite models, following different approaches (e.g. mechanical, statistical,
energy based, etc.) have been proposed as they are presented in Chap. 4.
5.3 Analysis and Design Concepts 149
2. Discrete approach: The fibre-reinforced soil structure is analysed, considering

the contributions of soil and fibres separately (Zornberg 2002). Under shearing
caused by applied load, the fibre reinforcement contributes to the increase of
shear resistance of soil by mobilizing the tensile stresses within the fibres. The
analysis requires independent testing of soil and of fibres, but not of fibre-
reinforced soil. The results obtained are more realistic. Additionally the fibres
can be optimized in terms of their quality, content, aspect ratio, etc. for deliv-
ering the cost-effective designs. The fibre-induced distributed tension, σ R, to be
used in this design approach to account for the tensile contribution of the fibres
in limit equilibrium analysis is taken as a minimum of σ RP and σ Rt as they are
discussed in Chap. 4 for fibre pullout and fibre breakage cases, respectively.
In the current design practice, the fibre-reinforced soil structures are often
designed by discrete approach as the most geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures
are routinely designed based on working stress design method or limit state design
method. Note that the fibres, being flexible, may not remain straight and they may
get folded several times randomly within the specimen. It is difficult to consider this
situation exactly while analyzing the behaviour of fibre-reinforced soils by discrete
approach. Hence, some designers may prefer to design the fibre-reinforced soil by
adopting the composite approach, especially when the fibres of relatively higher
lengths are used.
In discrete approach, there is a need to properly consider the interfacial interac-
tion of fibres with soil particles through adhesion and/or friction. Studies may be
conducted to determine the ratio of adhesion to soil cohesion intercept and also for
the ratio of angle of skin friction to angle of internal friction of soil as these factors
are determined between soils and other construction materials (Potyondy 1961).
It is important to note that the long fibre-reinforced soils perform well when the
application of loading direction and magnitude is known. When the load and its
direction are not known, short, discrete, randomly distributed/oriented fibre-
reinforced soil may be preferred. The basic principles of reinforcement design are
the same for systematically reinforced soil and randomly distributed fibre-
reinforced soils, except that suitable reduction factors should be applied in the
case of randomly distributed fibre-reinforced soil. In the reinforced soil, only the
reinforcements aligned normal to the applied stress, carry any stress. In randomly
distributed fibre-reinforced soils, some fibres do not carry any stress at all, and this
should be accounted for by strength reduction factors, more commonly termed the
efficiency factors (Hoover et al. 1982).
Achieving a uniform distribution of fibres at the construction site is generally a
difficult task. The poor distribution of fibres within the soil mass in the field
application may not result in the design property as expected based on the labora-
tory tests that may have a uniform distribution of fibres in test specimens. If the
distribution of fibres is not uniform, the laboratory property value should be
adjusted suitably by applying a factor of safety. In the case of strength property,
for considering the uncertainty induced by non-uniform fibre distribution, the
design strength of fibre-reinforced soil should be reduced to a value lower than
the laboratory strength.
Michalowski (2008) presented the limit analysis of anisotropic fibre-reinfroced

soil, and considering the ellipsoidal distribution of fibres, defined a term as distri-
bution ratio pr varying practically between 0 and 1. If the fibre-reinforced soil
behaves as an isotropic material, pr equals 1. The kinematic approach of limit
analysis was used to present the values of active earth pressure coefficient Ka and
the bearing capacity factor Nγ as given in Tables 5.1 and 5.2, respectively. The total
active earth pressure Pa against a rough vertical wall from the fibre-reinforced
cohesionless soil backfill (Fig. 5.1) and load-bearing capacity (average stress)
Table 5.1 Active earth ϕ (degrees) δ (degrees) arpvf tan ϕi pr Ka

pressure coefficient Kafor a
30 15 0 – 0.301
rough vertical wall with fibre-
reinforced cohesionless soil 0.2 1.0 0.271
backfill 0.5 0.260
0.2 0.245
0.4 1.0 0.242
0.5 0.221
0.2 0.193
0.6 1.0 0.215
0.5 0.184
0.2 0.145
35 15 0 – 0.248
0.2 1.0 0.218
0.5 0.207
0.2 0.192
0.4 1.0 0.189
0.5 0.168
0.2 0.141
0.6 1.0 0.162
0.5 0.131
0.2 0.094
40 15 0 – 0.201
0.2 1.0 0.171
0.5 0.160
0.2 0.146
0.4 1.0 0.142
0.5 0.121
0.2 0.096
0.6 1.0 0.115
0.5 0.085
0.2 0.048
After Michalowski (2008)
Note: ϕ is the angle of internal friction of soil, δ is the soil-wall
interface friction angle, ϕi is the fibre-soil interface friction angle,
ar is the aspect ratio of fibres. and pvf is the volumetric fibre
content
Table 5.2 Bearing capacity ϕ(degrees) arpvf tan ϕi pr Nγ

factor Nγ for fibre-reinforced
30 0 – 21.394
cohesionless foundation soil
0.2 1.0 33.239
0.5 35.775
0.2 39.598
0.4 1.0 53.301
0.5 62.636
0.2 79.380
35 0 – 48.681
0.2 1.0 84.305
0.5 92.280
0.2 104.612
0.4 1.0 155.559
0.5 191.827
0.2 263.931
40 0 – 118.826
0.2 1.0 241.893
0.5 272.732
0.2 321.365
0.4 1.0 561.436
0.5 755.590
0.2 1207.296
After Michalowski (2008)
Fig. 5.1 A retaining wall

with a vertical back face Fibres
supporting a fibre-
reinforced cohesionless soil Retaining
backfill wall
Fibre-reinforced
soil backfill
d
Pa
qa of a strip footing resting over fibre-reinforced cohesionless foundation soil

(Fig. 5.2) can be determined using the following expressions along with the values
of Ka and Nγ from Tables 5.1 and 5.2, respectively:
1
Pa ¼ K a γH 2 ð5:1Þ
2
Fig. 5.2 A strip footing B

resting on a fibre-reinforced
cohesionless foundation soil Load
Strip footing
Fibre-reinforced
foundation soil Fibres
where γ is the total unit weight of fibre-reinforced backfill and H is the height of the
retaining wall.
1
qa ¼ γBN γ ð5:2Þ
2
where γ the total unit weight of fibre-reinforced foundation soil and B is the width of
the strip footing.
Note that Pa is inclined at an angle δ to the normal to the vertical back of the wall
because the analysis has considered a rough vertical wall.
The following points are worth mentioning:
1. Addition of fibres to the soil backfill reduces the active earth pressure coefficient
Ka and hence the total lateral earth pressure Pa on the wall.
2. The value of Pa decreases with an increase of the concentration of fibres in the
backfill, but it is also affected by the distribution of fibre orientation. The near-
horizontal-preferred orientations contribute significantly to the reduction of Pa.
3. As the internal friction of sand is increased with the addition of fibres, the
bearing capacity factor Nγ also increases. The anisotropic distribution of fibre
orientation contributes further to this increase; that is, the distribution of fibres
with the horizontal preferred plane benefits the bearing capacity more than the
isotropic distribution.
Example 5.1
For a fibre-reinforced sand backfill supported by an 8-m high retaining wall with a
vertical back face, consider the following:
Angle of internal friction of sand, ϕ ¼ 30∘
Total unit weight of fibre-reinforced sand, γ ¼ 15.61 kN/m3
Fibre-reinforced soil-wall interface friction angle, δ ¼ 15∘
Fibre-soil interface friction angle,ϕi ¼ 20∘

Fibre aspect ratio, ar ¼ 75
Volumetric fibre content, pvf ¼ 1%
Determine the total active earth pressure from the fibre-reinforced sand backfill
on the retaining wall, assuming the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as an isotropic
material.
Solution
As the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as an isotropic material, the distribution ratio,
pr ¼ 1
Using the given values,
ar pvf tan ϕi ¼ ð75Þð0:01Þð tan 20 Þ ¼ 0:273
From Table 5.1, the active earth pressure coefficient,

0:271 0:242
K a ¼ 0:271 ð0:273 0:2Þ ¼ 0:260
0:4 0:2
From Eq. (5.1), the total active earth pressure from the fibre-reinforced sand
backfill,

1 1
Pa ¼ K a γH 2 ¼ ð0:260Þð15:61Þð8Þ2 ¼ 129:9 kN=m
2 2
Example 5.2
For a fibre-reinforced foundation sand bed supported by a 1-m wide surface strip
footing, consider the following:
Angle of internal friction of sand, ϕ ¼ 30
Fibre-soil interface friction angle, ϕi ¼ 20
Volumetric fibre content, pvf ¼ 1%
Determine load-bearing capacity of the surface strip footing resting over the
fibre-reinforced sand bed, assuming the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as an isotro-
pic material.
Solution
As the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as an isotropic material, the distribution
ratio,
pr ¼ 1
Using the given values,
ar pvf tan ϕi ¼ ð75Þð0:01Þð tan 20 Þ ¼ 0:273
From Table 5.2, the bearing capacity factor,

53:301 33:239
N γ ¼ 33:239 þ ð0:273 0:2Þ ¼ 40:56
0:4 0:2
From Eq. (5.2), load-bearing capacity of the surface strip footing resting over the
fibre-reinforced sand bed,

1 1
qa ¼ γBN γ ¼ ð15:61Þð1Þð40:56Þ ¼ 316:6 kPa
2 2
The overall stability of a shallow foundation constructed over the weak founda-
tion soil can be significantly improved by placing a compacted cement-stabilized
fibre-reinforced soil layer of a suitable thickness (say 0.3B, where B being the width
of the footing) over the weak foundation soil as shown in Fig. 5.3. The thickness
may be decided based on the plate load test. The ultimate load-bearing capacity of
this layered soil system can be estimated using the analytical methods proposed by
Vesic (1975) and Mayerhof and Hanna (1978). The later considers a punching
failure along the footing perimeter. Consoli et al. (2003) have reported that Vesic’s
method significantly overestimates the bearing capacity of the footing resting on the
layered system, while Meyerhof and Hanna’s method underestimates it. A research
is required to develop an appropriate bearing capacity equation for determining the
bearing capacity of footings resting on cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced soil layer
over the weak foundation soil.
Note that for the field situation shown in Fig. 5.3, if required, a geosynthetic
reinforcement layer (woven geotextile or geogrid layer) can be installed at the
interface of the cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced soil layer and the weak founda-
tion soil for having additional reinforcement benefits. At several construction sites,
the fibre-reinforced foundation soil with or without geosynthetic reinforcement may
be technically feasible for supporting the structural loads, and additionally they
may have the following advantages:
B
Load
Strip footing
Cement stabilized
fibre-reinforced
cohesionless soil
Weak foundation soil

(Saturated soft clay)
Rock
Fig. 5.3 A strip footing resting on a cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced cohesionless soil layer
over a weak foundation soil stratum
1. The use of fibres from the waste materials, such as old/used tyres and used
plastic materials, in large quantities, whose presence causes environmental
problems and their safe disposal in engineered landfills costs significantly
2. Reduced foundation cost compared to the cost of deep foundations, such as piles
that carry the loads and transfer them to the rock bed or firm stratum underlying
the weak foundation soil
Young’s modulus is often the dominant parameter for the design of shallow
foundations. Although the fibre-reinforced soil is more compressible than
unreinforced soil, it still complies with the stiffness requirements for several
applications (50–120 MPa), namely, shallow foundations, subgrade, capping or
subbase layers. This compliance means that the fibre-reinforced soil is a suitable
material for construction of these structures. In fact, a reinforced soil exhibits a
suitable bearing capacity and trafficking under the heavy construction machines.
Driving passes of the motor scraper in the close proximity to the borders of fibre-
reinforced embankment confirm the good quality of the reinforced soil as a con-
struction material (Falorca et al. 2011).
Design of fibre-reinforced granular pavement layers requires evaluation of fibre-
reinforced granular materials by the trafficability test, simulating the conditions of
repetitive traffic loading and adverse environment. Details of the test and findings in
terms of variation of average rut depths with number of load cycles are presented by
Hoover et al. (1982) for some fibre-reinforced soils. The findings show that the
inclusion of fibres improves the vertical load stability and prevents lateral shear
and/or displacement for a greater number of load cycles when compared to the
behaviour of unreinforced soil. Further improvement of stability, compressive
characteristics, ductility and control of cracking through brittle failure can be
obtained through addition of cement or lime, mainly due to improved soil-fibre
interfacial bonding. The crimped PP fibres are found to be most effective in
improving the engineering characteristics of soil. The scanning electron micros-

copy shows that the straight PP fibres exhibit severe surficial damage after com-
paction and testing, and the glass fibres appear undamaged.
Benefits of reinforcing the pavement layers (subgrade, subbase course and/or
base course) with fibres (or other reinforcement types) are generally expressed in
terms of an extension of service life of the pavement and/or a reduction in the
thickness of pavement layer. An extension of service life of the pavement is
typically expressed in terms of the traffic benefit ratio (TBR), which is defined as
follows (Perkins and Edens 2002):
NR
TBR ¼ ð5:3Þ
NU
where N is the number of traffic loads/passes required for producing a pavement

surface deformation (i.e. rutting) up to the allowable rut depth for the pavement and
the symbols U and R denote unreinforced and reinforced pavement sections,
respectively. Thus, the TBR basically indicates the additional traffic loads/passes
that can be applied to the pavement with fibre-reinforced layer, with all other
pavement materials and geometry being equal.
The benefit of reinforcing in reduction in the thickness of pavement layer
(subbase course, base course and/or surface course) is typically expressed in
terms of layer reduction ratio (LRR), which is defined as follows:
DU DR
LRR ¼ ð5:4Þ
DU
where DU and DR are the pavement layer thickness of the unreinforced and fibre-
reinforced pavement sections, respectively, for equivalent service life. If the layer is
base course, the layer reduction ratio (LRR) may be better called base course
reduction ratio (BRR) as considered by Perkins et al. (2002).
The pavement can also be designed for any intermediate thickness to reduce the
thicknesses of the pavement layers and/or to gain additional benefits in terms of
extension of the service life of the pavement. For example, by reinforcing the
subgrade soils, the thickness of the subbase course can be reduced as required. If
a reduction in the thickness of the subbase course is not required, then with fibre
inclusions into subgrade soils, the benefits can be achieved in terms of TBR. Thus
the actual advantage of fibre inclusions depends upon the option exercised by the
pavement designer (Chandra et al. 2008).
For the design of a pavement structure, repeated dynamic load test may be
conducted in a model test tank as Kumar and Singh (2008) presented their work
using a steel tank of size 0.6 m 0.6 m 0.6 m and creating a pavement structure
with subgrade, subbase and base courses. Wet Mix Macadam (WMM) was used as
the base course. For the rural roads, the traffic load was considered the medium load
(41 kN). The number of load cycles applied on the top of the base course was
limited to 10,000 only. Table 5.3 shows the deformation of the top surface of the
Table 5.3 Rut depth in a model section after 10,000 cycles in each case
Combination of subbases Rut depth (mm) Percentage decrease in rut depth
Fly ash only 6.07
Fly ash + 0.2% fibres 4.29 29
Fly ash + 0.3% fibres 3.25 46
Fly ash + 25% soil 4.44 27
Fly ash + 25% soil + 0.2% fibres 3.20 47
base course for different combinations of subbases of fly ash (silt of low compress-
ibility, ML) and local soil (poorly graded fine sand, SP) with PP fibres. Note that the
rut depth is an indicator of the life of the pavement. A reduction in the rut depth due
to loading shows more expected life. Fly ash alone has 6.07-mm rut depth, but in the
case of fly ash with 25% soil and 0.2% fibres, rut depth is nearly half of the rut depth
in the case of fly ash only.
Jha et al. (2014) analysed the benefit of reinforcing the industrial waste materials
(fly ash, stone dust and waste recycled product) with HDPE plastic waste strips in
terms of LRR for their applications as the subbase course material in the construc-
tion of flexible pavements. Their analysis shows that with inclusion of plastic waste
strips into industrial wastes, the thickness of subbase course can be reduced up to
50%, depending on the service life and site requirements. The reduced thickness of
the pavement layers results in lower total cost of the pavement and lower construc-
tion time, thus consuming reduced quantities of natural soil and materials for
construction and hence providing an environmentally friendly solutions in a sus-
tainable manner.
Permeability is the most important design parameter for water-retaining struc-
tures. The effect of fibre inclusions in soil on its permeability has been presented in
Sect. 3.6. In general, inclusion of fibres in soil decreases its coefficient of perme-
ability (a.k.a. hydraulic conductivity), and hence this benefit can be used in reduc-
ing the seepage through the body of water-retaining soil structures. Babu and
Vasudevan (2008) have explained the benefits of mixing coir fibres into red soil
used for the construction of a temporary check dam over an impermeable bed
(Fig. 5.4). The seepage analysis shows that an increase in fibre content decreases the
discharge per unit length of the dam (Fig. 5.5). Thus the coir fibres are effective in
controlling the seepage through the body of check dams, which are often
constructed for the water conservation purposes in many countries.
Sheet pile walls have several applications in civil engineering as permanent and
temporary structures. A sheet pile wall embedded in a soil is often used to retain
water. Babu and Vasudevan (2008) have also explained the benefits of replacement
of the soil deposit by coir fibre-reinforced soil on the downstream side of the sheet
pile wall (Fig. 5.6). The analysis for soil piping shows that as the fibre content in
soil increases, the factor of safety against the piping failure, as determined from
Eq. (1.27), also increases (Fig. 5.7). The maximum exit hydraulic gradient may be
calculated using the following relationship (Harr 1962):
Fibre-reinforced soil
Impermeable stratum
Fig. 5.4 A check dam constructed with coir fibre-reinforced red soil
Discharge per metre length (m3day-1m-1)
1.6
Coir fibre length = 50 mm
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Fibre content, pf (%)
Fig. 5.5 A typical variation of discharge per unit length of the check dam, constructed with coir
fibre-reinforced red soil over an impermeable stratum, with fibre content (Adapted from Babu and
Vasudevan 2008)
Note: Base width of dam ¼ 10 m; height of dam ¼ 2 m; top width of dam ¼ 2.48 m; side sloping
angle ¼ 28 ; dry unit weight of soil ¼ 14.3 kN/m3; moulding water content ¼ 17.8%; and free
board ¼ 0. 2 m
H
ie ¼ ð5:5Þ
3:14D
where H is the total head lost in the flow and D is the depth of penetration of sheet
pile wall. Equation (5.5) is based on the assumption that the impermeable layer is
available at a shallow depth.
Sheet pile wall
Fibre-reinforced
soil
Impermeable stratum
Fig. 5.6 A sheet pile wall with compacted coir fibre-reinforced soil on the downstream side
Coir fibre length = 50 mm

Factor of safety against piping, FSpiping
8 Red soil
7
6 50% Red soil
+ 50% sand
5
4
3 Sand
2
1
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Fig. 5.7 Effect of fibre content on factor of safety against piping failure for the sheet pile with coir
fibre-reinforced soil on the downstream side (Adapted from Babu and Vasudevan 2008)
Note: Embedded depth ¼ 2 m; upstream water depth ¼ 2.5 m; downstream water depth ¼ 0.5 m
Desiccation cracking of soil is a problem encountered in many engineering

disciplines, including geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. Desiccation
of landfill clay liners is a major factor affecting landfill performance. Desiccation
leads to the development of shrinkage cracks. The cracks provide pathways for
moisture migration into the landfill cell and thus increases the generation of waste
leachate and ultimately increases the potential for soil and groundwater contami-
nation. For liner design applications, Miller and Rifai (2004) presented the concepts
of crack evaluation. The following terms can be used to assess the liner crack
potential:
1. Crack intensity ratio (CIR): It is defined as the ratio of cracked area (AC) to the
total surface area (A) of the soil, that is,
AC
CIR ¼ ð5:6Þ
A
The value of CIR is normally expressed as a decimal.

2. Crack Reduction Factor (ICR): It is defined as
CIRU CIRR
I CR ¼ ð5:7Þ
CIRU
where CIRU is the crack intensity ratio for unreinforced soil and CIRR is the crack
intensity ratio for fibre-reinforced soil. The value of (ICR) is normally expressed as a
percentage.
For landfill applications, Miller and Rifai (2004) studied the effect of PP fibre
reinforcement (length varying from 0.5 to 2 in.) on desiccation cracking of medium
plasticity soil (classified as CL with liquid limit ¼ 40 and plasticity index ¼ 17)
compacted at 2% wet of the optimum water content as a function of fibre content
and crack reduction. The relationship between crack reduction and fibre content
(Fig. 5.8) shows that increasing the fibre content, from 0.2 to 0.8%, significantly
increases the crack reduction, from 12.3 to 88.6%, respectively. The slope of the
curve in Fig. 5.8 suggests that increasing the fibre content would have increased the
crack reduction further. However, exceeding a fibre content of 0.8% is not practical
due to difficulty in fibre-soil mixing to obtain uniform distribution of fibres within
the soil. The cracks are observed wider and more intensive in the natural soil
specimen than those shown in the fibre-reinforced soil specimen. The cracks in
the latter are so small that they are barely visible.
The magnitude of hydraulic conductivity of clayey soil should be one of the
primary characteristics used to judge its acceptability for containment structures
(i.e. landfill covers and bottom liners). Therefore, it is critical that the effect of fibre
inclusion on the hydraulic conductivity of the clayey soil should be evaluated as one
of the design steps for covers and liners. Miller and Rifai (2004) conducted
hydraulic conductivity test on a medium plasticity soil (classified as CL with liquid
limit ¼ 40 and plasticity index ¼ 17) using modified compaction effort and 2% wet
of optimum water content. The tests were performed using fibre contents of 0.0, 0.2,
1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%. The test results, as presented in Fig. 5.9, indicate that the
hydraulic conductivity of the fibre-reinforced soil is dependent on the fibre content,
generally increasing with fibre content increase. The slight decrease of hydraulic
conductivity noted around 0.2% fibre content is within the limits of experimental
error and should not be used to infer that minor fibre additions improve the
5.4 Field Application Experience and Guidelines 161
100
Crack reduction factor, ICR (%)
80
60
40
20
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Fig. 5.8 Variation of crack reduction factor for a medium plasticity soil with fibre content
(Adapted from Miller and Rifai 2004)
hydraulic conductivity. The increase in hydraulic conductivity is most significant

for fibre contents exceeding 1%.
Note that the optimum fibre content that is necessary to achieve the maximum
crack reduction, maximum dry unit weight and acceptable hydraulic conductivity
within the range of mixing workability is found to be between 0.4 and 0.5% in the
experimental study conducted by Miller and Rifai (2004).
5.4 Field Application Experience and Guidelines
Influences of the engineering properties of soil and reinforcement and the scale
effects on the properties of the fibre-reinforced soils have not been investigated
fully, and hence the actual behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil is not yet well known.
The large-scale investigations for all possible applications of fibre-reinforced soil
are limited in the literature, and hence they are the subject of further study. Thus,
the use of randomly oriented discrete fibres for different applications, as described
here, requires investigations at a large scale.
Park and Tan (2005) conducted full-scale tests on a retaining wall with PP fibre-
reinforced soil backfill (with 0.2% fibre content), with and without geogrid
reinforcement (tensile strength of 50 kN/m in machine direction and 20 kN/m in
cross machine direction), in Korea Railway Research Institute, using a large soil
box (22 m in length, 5 m in width and 3 m in depth), a loading frame and a reaction
plate. The test was fully instrumented with earth pressure cells, displacement
gauges, load cells and settlement plates. The numerical model of the wall with
Hydraulic conductivity, k (m/s)
1.0E-05
1.0E-06
1.0E-07
1.0E-08
1.0E-09
1.0E-10
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Fig. 5.9 Variation of hydraulic conductivity of medium plasticity soil with PP fibre content
(Adapted from Miller and Rifai 2004)
reinforced backfill was also developed using a finite element programme

(2D PLAXIS version 7.2). Some of the key observations are given below:
1. Distribution of vertical earth pressure is almost the same for all cases of
unreinforced as well as reinforced soil system. When a load is applied on the
backfill, the fibre-reinforced soil backfill shows slightly smaller vertical stress
increase compared to unreinforced soil.
2. Immediately after construction, and upon loading, the fibre-reinforced soil
backfill without geogrid appears to have the smallest horizontal pressure
distribution.
3. Wall deflection is smaller if the fibres are included within the backfills. The
presence of geogrid reinforcement reduces the wall deflection further to some
extent, but very small reduction in deflection cannot justify the cost of using
geogrid reinforcement along with fibres.
The fibre-reinforced compacted soil backfill is thus stronger and stiffer than
unreinforced compacted soil backfill. Inclusion of geosynthetic reinforcement layers
within the fibre-reinforced soil backfill can lead to an economical construction of
very high retaining wall, even with a vertical face, especially in built-up areas.
At some sites, shallow foundations and pavements are often constructed along
the ground supported by sheet pile walls or other retaining structures, as shown in
Fig. 5.10. Nasr (2014) studied experimentally and numerically the potential benefits
of reinforcing the poorly graded sand backfills at a relative density of 50% in the
active zone behind a model steel sheet pile wall (750 mm long, 499 mm wide and
3.3 mm thick) by using PP fibres (12 mm long, 0.023 mm thick) and cement kiln
dust (15.42% SiO2, 3.92% Al2O3, 2.95% Fe2O3, 51.23% CaO, etc.). The test
involved loading a rigid strip footing (499 mm long, 100 mm wide and 25 mm
thick) resting on the sand backfill surface in the active zone adjacent to the sheet
pile wall in a steel test tank (1.5 m long, 0.5 m wide and 0.9 m high). The sheet pile
Load Strip footing

Sheet pile wall
s Fibres
h
H
Fibre-reinforced
Active zone soil backfill layer
Passive zone
Fig. 5.10 Loaded active zone adjacent to a sheet pile wall (Adapted from Nasr 2014)
wall was embedded 500 mm in the sand bed. The results obtained from the study
suggest the following:
1. Addition of PP fibres to the cemented sand increases the ductility as indicated by
the increase in deformability index Di. For lower fibre content ( 0.5%), Di is
weakly influenced by the cement kiln dust content.
2. The presence of fibres in the cemented sand backfill behind the sheet pile wall
decreases the lateral deflection of the wall significantly. For the cement kiln dust
content (as per Eq. (2.9)) of 9%, the maximum lateral deflection decreases by
about 51% at a fibre content (as per Eq. (2.10)) of 0.75%.
3. Ultimate bearing capacity of the strip footing resting on the fibre-reinforced
cemented sand in the active zone increases with an increase in the thickness of
reinforced sand layer. However, for higher fibre content ( 0.75%), an increase
in ultimate bearing capacity is not significant at a thickness h of fibre-reinforced
cemented sand layer greater than 0.4H(H¼ wall height; see Fig. 5.10).
4. Increasing the distance between the strip footing and the sheet pile wall leads to a
significant increase in ultimate bearing capacity of the footing and a decrease in
the maximum lateral deflection of the sheet pile wall. However, for higher fibre
content ( 0.75%), if the distance s between the strip footing and the sheet pile
wall is more than 0.8H, there is no appreciable increase (about 4.8%) in ultimate
bearing capacity of the footing.
Sand and sandy gravels are generally not used in the top courses (high level of
base course or surface course) of pavements although they are easily available at
several construction sites because their properties do not meet the technical require-
ments of top courses. In order to utilize sand as a construction material on a larger
scale in the top courses, sand can be reinforced with short fibres by mixing sand and
fibres by the mix-in-plant process. Lindh and Eriksson (1990) provided the details
of a pilot experiment performed in 1988 on two pavement test stretches, 20 m and
40 m, by incorporating a 100-mm layer of sand in the pavement mixed with short
(48-mm) plastic fibres at 0.25 and 0.5% fibre contents, respectively. Sand, water
and plastic fibres were mixed successfully in a concrete mixing plant of the drum
Single surface dressing

100 mm base course
New gravel
layers
100 mm sand reinforced
with 48 mm plastic fibres
Macadam mixed in the
existing road material
Fig. 5.11 Longitudinal test section of road pavement (lengths of 20 m and 40 m with the use of
plastic fibre contents of 0.25% and 0.5%, respectively, in the sand layer) (Adapted from Lindh and
Eriksson 1990)
mixer type. The 100-mm reinforced sand layer was applied directly on the old road
surface. A 100-mm layer of base course gravel was applied on the sand layer,
followed by a surface dressing (see Fig. 5.11). Prior to applying the fibre-reinforced
sand, the grading curve of the material in the surface layer of the old road was
improved by mixing in macadam. The spreading and rough levelling of the fibre-
reinforced sand were performed with a grader. The normal shaping could not be
performed on the reinforced sand as it became matted, and adhered to the shaper in
lumps. The final shaping of the surface therefore had to be performed with hand
tools. After compaction, the fibre-reinforced sand had considerably better stability
than the layers of packed sand, and showed no rutting of the road surface during
about the first 2 years’ use by traffic; thus the test stretches performed well. With
inclusion of fibres, the sand absorbs tensile strains and can therefore improve
resistance to permanent deformation of sand layer when loaded.
Santoni and Webster (2001) described the laboratory and field tests conducted
using a new fibre stabilization technique for sands. Laboratory unconfined com-
pression tests using 51-mm long monofilament PP fibres to stabilize a poorly graded
(SP) sand showed an optimum fibre content of 1% (by dry weight). The field test
sections were constructed and traffic tested using simulated C-130 aircraft traffic
with a 13,608 kg tyre load at 690 kPa tyre pressure and a 4536 kg military cargo
truck loaded to a gross weight of 18,870 kg. The test results showed that the sand-
fibre stabilization over a sand subgrade supported over 1000 passes of a C-130 tyre
load with less than 51 mm of rutting. The top 102 mm of the sand-fibre layer was
lightly stabilized with tree resin to provide a wearing surface. Based on limited
truck traffic tests, 203-mm thick sand-fibre layer, surfaced with a spray application
of tree resin, would support substantial amounts of military truck traffic.
Tingle et al. (2002) reported the details of two field test sections to evaluate the
ability of fibre-stabilized sand beds to sustain military trucks. It is observed that the
fibrillated fibres provide the best rut resistance, followed by the monofilament, the
tape and then the Netlon mesh elements. The 0.8% fibre content recommended by
Santoni et al. (2001) showed to provide adequate structural support for the test
traffic. Slightly better performance was noted at a fibre content of 1%, but the slight
increase in rut resistance did not justify the added cost of the additional fibres. The
field tests demonstrated similar performance between 51-mm (2 in.) and 76-mm
(3 in.) fibre lengths, but the 76 mm tended to hand up on the mixing equipment.
Thus, 51-mm fibre length appears to be more appropriate for field use. In general,
the design criteria for unsurfaced roads are based on the development of a 76-mm
(3 in.) rut upon completion of the design traffic. The amount of rutting, 63–89 mm
(2.3–3.5 in.), exhibited in the field tests indicates that the design thickness of
203 mm (8 in.) was appropriate for the design traffic, except for the case with the
Netlon mesh fibres. The test sections demonstrated the need for a surfacing for
fibre-stabilized layers to keep the tyre friction from pulling the fibres out of the
sand. Road Oyl provided a good wearing course for the applied traffic. Cousins Pine
Sap Emulsion and PennzSuppress D also provided adequate resistance to fibre
pullout. The hexagonal mat surfacing provided an adequate wearing course, but
no additional structural strength was provided by the mat since the sand had already
been confined by the fibres. Note that the majority of the permanent deformation or
rutting that occurred during the test period consisted of densification of the stabi-
lized sand and supporting sand layers.
Based on the available experience and studies reported in the literature as well as
the author’s experience, some application guidelines are given below:
Care and Consideration
• There are a large number of factors and variables that affect the engineering
behaviour of fibre-reinforced soils. The stress-strain properties of fibre-
reinforced soils are functions of fibre content, aspect ratio and skin friction
along with the soil and fibre index and strength characteristics and confining
pressure. Thus, the design and construction of fibre-reinforced soil structures
should properly consider all these variables.
• Because of the major influence of confining stress, the design parameters should
be based on the triaxial compression tests, especially on the large-size
specimens.
• The method of fibre-reinforced soil placement should be similar to the method
used for preparing the fibre-reinforced soil specimens for the tests conducted to
obtain the design parameters. This is essential to maintain the fibre orientations
the same in both the tests and field applications.
• In general, fibres are most influential when orientated in the same direction as the
tensile strains. Therefore, for any particular loading condition, the effectiveness
of fibre inclusions depends on their orientation, which in turn depends on the
sample mixing and formation procedure. However, an attempt should be made to
make the reasonably uniform distribution of the fibres within the soil mass.
• The in situ mixing and compacting may cause preferred near-horizontal orien-
tations; hence, the properties of fibre-reinforced soil are anisotropic to some
extent.
• The consequence of an assumed isotropy as generally expected in the soil-fibre
mixes may result in an overestimation or underestimation of reinforced soil
design parameters, depending on the direction of practical importance.
• Since the limited settlement is generally the design criterion for actual founda-
tions on soil, a comparison of the bearing pressure values at some selected
settlement levels for the reinforced and unreinforced cases should be made for
the design purpose.
• Site-specific laboratory and field tests should be conducted to determine the
design parameters/variables.
• As several contradictory observations/conclusions have been reported in differ-
ent studies, they should be used carefully in analysis and design of fibre-
reinforced structures.
• As the significant influence of fibre reinforcement on the ultimate strength of
fibre-reinforced soil continues to be observed even at very large shear strains
(horizontal displacements) in the laboratory study, there is no tendency to lose
strength, and the fibre-reinforced soils would therefore be unlikely to suffer from
brittle failure in field applications even in cases where the strains localize, as
they do in a ring shear apparatus. Thus there is a great potential of PP and other
similar fibres as the soil reinforcement (Heineck et al. 2005).
• The use of natural fibres such as coir and jute fibres may make possible construc-
tions, such as embankments and bunds, rural road bases, etc., cost-effective and
environmentally friendly, especially in applications for short duration of 2–3 years
in order to have short-term stability. Of most natural fibres, coir has the greatest
tearing strength and retains this property even in wet conditions.
Mixing, Placement and Compaction
• The simplest method of mixing fibre and soil in a rotating drum mixer does not
result in a uniform mixture due to a large difference in specific gravities of
fibre and soil. The drum mixing method usually results in the segregation or
floating of fibres even when some water is added. In fact, because of the
lightweight and low specific gravity of fibres (for some types it can be even
less than unity) compared to soil particles, the fibres cannot be uniformly
distributed in the mixture during drum rotation.
• The effective method of fibre inclusion can be spraying the fibres over each soil
lift during field compaction, especially in pavement bases and subbases. The
main advantages of fibre reinforcement in bases and subbases are increase in
load-carrying capacity, reduction in rut depth, reduced cost, etc.
• One of the most satisfactory mixing techniques can be provided by blowing
fibres into a rotary mixer chamber with a mulch spreader equipped with a
flexible hose. Blade mixing provides a reasonable satisfactory random distribu-
tion of fibres (Hoover et al. 1982).
• Mixing is a critical factor in the case of discrete, randomly oriented fibre
reinforcement. Blade- or paddle-type mixers do not work as they tend to drag
and ball up the fibres. Vibratory mixers tend to float the fibres up. A special
oscillatory or helical action mixer can be used to avoid these problems; but even
this type of mixer has limitations on the maximum fibre content that can be
uniformly and randomly distributed in the mix. The degree of randomness in the
mixture may be determined by visual inspection (Gray and Al-Refeai 1986).
• Compared to hand mixing, the z-blade mixer produces suitable even mixes of
clay and PP fibres within a reasonable time (Gelder and Fowmes 2016).
• Water content of the soil should be lower than the optimum water content
corresponding to the level of compaction required to facilitate pulverization of
the soil particles.
• In order to easily mix the fibres uniformly, the initial/natural water content of the
cohesive soil may be increased to optimum mixing moisture content (OMMC)
prior to the introduction of fibres if lime has to be added. By introducing
quicklime, excess moisture is removed through the hydration (exothermic reac-
tion) process, thus improving the workability of soil. If lime is not added, the
mixture should be allowed for air drying at the site to get the moisture content
reduced to the target value (Gelder and Fowmes 2016).
• For preparing a good-quality mixture of fibres and clayey soil, the water content
of the soil may be kept near its plastic limit, which may fall on the wet side of the
compaction curve (Falorca and Pinto 2011).
• For proper mixing of fibres with soil, water required to obtain the target water
content should be added to soil prior to placing the fibres on the soil. This is done
to keep the fibres from sticking together during mixing (Tingle et al. 2002).
• Higher fibre content, longer fibres and crimped fibres can make the mixing
procedure more difficult.
• Compaction of soil fibres can be done in two stages: one pass of the motor
scrapper followed by 4–6 passes of a roller.
• A vibratory rubber-tyred roller may be most suitable for the compaction of fibre-
reinforced soils (Falorca et al. 2011).
• More compaction energy may be necessary to produce specimens with higher
fibre contents at a given dry unit weight. Thus, the fibre-reinforced soil may
provide an increased resistance to compaction, even in field compaction.
• In general, for the embankment construction, the soil-fibre mixture should be
produced and placed in a single step only. It is not feasible to spread and level the
mixture by maintaining the homogeneity, as some clods of fibres are produced
and dragged by the motor scraper. The reinforced layers must therefore be ready
for compaction immediately after placement, with no need for levelling pro-
cedures. For a better uniform distribution of fibres within the compacted soil
mass, the soil and fibres may be spread in a sandwich pattern and then mixed
with a rotary tiller, in the following steps (Falorca et al. 2011):
• The predetermined quantity of fibres is spread uniformly by hand or other
suitable means over the surface.
• The necessary amount of soil is then spread over the fibres.
• Finally, the rotary tiller is driven along the entire area of the section in a
regular pattern at a slow speed, combined with high rotation, in order to have
a satisfactorily homogeneous mixture.
These steps can be repeated until a 0.2-m thick layer is completed. The number
of sub-layers needed to complete a 0.2-m thick layer is found to depend on the fibre
characteristics. This procedure becomes impractical when the number of sub-layers
is greater than six. For the highest fibre content and lowest fibre diameter, the
maximum number of fibres needs to be mixed with the soil. This is the most difficult
situation, which requires the highest number of sub-layers.
• A thin top soil layer of about 50-mm thickness should be placed over the entire
surface area of the embankment to protect the synthetic fibres, such as PP fibres
from UV degradation. The top soil layer also helps minimize fissures which may
be caused by a recovering deformation of the reinforced soil (Falorca et al.
2011).
• In pavement base/subbase construction, the selected type and amount of fibres
should be weighed and can be uniformly spread by hand across the surface of the
moist base/subbase material. Four to six passes of a self-propelled rotary mixer
should be initially used to mix the fibres with base/subbase material. Then the
material should be piled and releveled, and four to six additional passes of the
rotary mixer should be used to uniformly mix the fibres with the material. The
fibre-reinforced material should then be dumped in place as required for com-
paction by rollers.
• If required, the individual fibres from the yarns can be separated by first,
punching a few holes with a paper hole punch near the closed end of a large
(say, 125 L) plastic bag. Next, a handful of yarn fibres are placed in the bag. The
bag is hand-held closed around an air nozzle and inverted, and air is blown
through the fibres. The air separates the fibres from the yarn effectively and
promptly. The separated fibres form the fluffy bundles that resemble cotton
candy (Santoni and Webster 2001).
• When tyre chips are used, construction activities may be eased by specifying tyre
chips less than 75 mm (maximum dimension). For compaction of tyre fibre-
reinforced soil, vibratory roller should not be specified. Compaction specifica-
tions should not be based on a final unit weight, but the optimum number of
passes should be determined based on a test section in the field. Compressibility
is the governing parameter in designing structural fills using tyre chips. To
achieve minimum compressibility, a minimum soil cover thickness of 1 m
over the tyre chips should be specified. The use of a geotextile to separate the
cover soil from the porous tyre chip fill is recommended to prevent migration of
the soil into the tyre chips pores. Sand-tyre chips mixtures exhibit higher moduli
than clay-tyre chips mixtures at the same soil-tyre chips ratio (Edil and Bosscher
1994).
Durability
• Attempts are being made to increase the long-term durability of fibres in a cost-
effective way, such as coating of fibres with phenol and bitumen, and probably in
the future, several coating methods will be available. However, natural fibres can
be used routinely in less critical applications (e.g. pavement bases/subbases) or
short-term applications (e.g. erosion control).
• The surface of fibres may be made rough by cementing a layer of suitable
materials, such as fine sand particles, to the fibres for achieving a full mobiliza-
tion of soil angle of internal friction during shearing.
• Natural fibres may be protected from biodegradation by coating with suitable

materials. Ahmad et al. (2010) coated oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB)
fibres with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic for increasing
the resistance to biodegradation. A layer of coating on a fibre also increases its
diameter and the surface area, resulting in increased interface friction of fibre
and soil as well as the fibre tensile strength. Hence, as an additional advantage,
the inclusion of coated OPEFB fibres in silty sand increases its shear strength
much more compared to uncoated fibres, as reported by Ahmad et al. based on
the results obtained from consolidated drained and undrained triaxial compres-
sion tests. Sarbaz et al. (2014) used bitumen-coated palm fibres for reinforcing
fine sand and studied the effect of bitumen coating on the CBR strength of sand.
Application Experience
• Stability of retaining walls under dynamic load conditions may require the use of
more stable backfills. For increase in stability of walls by the reduction of lateral
earth pressure, short fibres (say, 60-mm long PP fibres) may be included ran-
domly in soil backfills (Park and Tan 2005). The beneficial effect can be more to
some extent when short fibres are used in combination with geogrid reinforce-
ment within the backfill.
• Inclusion of tyre chips (20 mm long, 10 mm wide and 10 mm thick; specific
gravity ¼ 1.08 and unit weight ¼ 6.45 kN/m3) up to 30% by weight in the poorly
graded sand backfill behind the wall effectively works to reduce the wall
displacements and lateral earth pressures against the wall by about 50–60%,
thereby resulting in reduced dimensions of the wall (Reddy and Krishna 2015).
• Shallow foundations on fibre-reinforced cohesionless/granular soil deposits
should be designed based on the findings of large-scale model footing tests or,
if possible, by testing full-scale trial footings; otherwise, a simple test may be
devised, for example, in the form of measuring the imprint dimensions or the
penetration depth of a falling object (Wasti and Butun 1996).
• Even though the sand-cement layer provides a higher bearing capacity when
compared to cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced sand layer, the latter, in terms of
post-peak behaviour, leads to a more reliable solution and possibly to a reduction
in the design safety factor, because the fibre inclusion reduces dramatically the
brittle response of the foundation soil system (Consoli et al. 2003).
• The beneficial effects of fibre reinforcement in soil can be enhanced significantly
by stabilizing the fibre-reinforced soil with cement in a suitable quantity, say
using cement content of 5–10%.
• The footing or pavement load should be placed suitably away from the retaining
structure to get maximum benefits from inclusion of fibres in terms of increase in
the load-bearing capacity of the footing.
• The granular pile and trench, which are used for stabilizing the weak clayey
foundation soil, can be strengthened by inclusion of fibres in place of reinforcing
them by layers of geosynthetic reinforcement (Gray and Al-Refeai 1986).
• With increase in shear strength of soil with inclusion of fibres, a steeper slope
may be constructed, resulting in saving of the land area, which may be utilized
suitably. The slope stability analysis of the fibre-reinforced slopes may be

carried out using the discrete approach, which considers the fibre-induced
distribution of tension parallel to the failure plane along with the soil shear
resistance separately.
• Decrease in rut depth, which is an indicator of increase in the life of pavement,
takes place as a result of inclusion of fibres in soil and other similar materials
such as fly ash.
• Stabilization of sand with discrete fibres is a viable alternative to traditional
stabilization techniques for low-volume road applications. Fibre stabilization
requires less material (fibre additives) by dry weight than most traditional
stabilization techniques. The construction and maintenance techniques have
been shown to be practical and successful in terms of maintaining the service-
ability of the road. However, the densification of fibre-stabilized materials under
repeated traffic loadings may limit the applicability of this technology for use in
situations in which settlements and deformations cannot be tolerated (Tingle
et al. 2002).
• During trafficking by the heavy construction machinery, in terms of depth of
ruts, the fibre-reinforced soil sections are observed to be more stable than the
unreinforced sections.
• In case of rural roads, the subbase material should have a minimum soaked
CBR of 15%. Fly ash reinforced with PP fibres with 0.2% fibre content has been
found to have CBR of 16.6%; therefore, this is suitable for rural road subbases.
Fibre content can be reduced to 0.1% if fly ash is mixed with 25% of poorly
graded fine sand (SP) (Kumar and Singh 2008).
• Cement-stabilized soils are often used as pavement base courses, backfills
behind retaining walls, embankments and foundation. As the cement content
increases, the strength properties of soil improve significantly, but an increase in
cement content causes a brittle or sudden failure without a plastic deformation.
As the brittle/sudden failure is undesirable in engineering applications, for
preventing the brittle failure, fibres may be added to cement-stabilized soil in a
suitable quantity with a random distribution.
• Fibre inclusions with an optimum aspect ratio increase the CBR of the soil subgrade/
subbase/base courses and hence may cause a substantial decrease in design thick-
ness of the pavement layers, thus making the pavement project economical.
• Fibre inclusions mixed with soil subgrade also provide needed tensile strength
under traffic loads.
• The fibre reinforcement of roadway soils should be associated with base or
subbase courses having adequate surfacing (Hoover et al. 1982).
• Shredded waste tyres can be used as soil subgrade reinforcement, aggregate in
leach beds for septic systems, additive to asphalt, substitute for leachate collec-
tion stone in landfills, daily cover materials in landfills, lightweight fills, edge
drains, etc.
• The CBR values decrease significantly as the amount of tyre buffings (gradation
between 1.0 mm and 12.5 mm) increases in the subbase gravel (crushed stone,
classified as well-graded gravel, GW). Subbase gravel with 3% cement and 5%
tyre buffings give higher CBR values than gravel alone. The use of gravel, tyre
buffings and cement can reduce the tyre disposal problems in pavement granular
courses (Cabalar and Karabash 2015).
• In pavement applications, the stabilization of cohesionless materials, such as
sand and gravel, with discrete fibres requires that some form of surfacing should
be used as a wearing course to prevent the fibres from being pulled out of the
sand/gravel during trafficking if used as the surface layer of the pavement
structure, especially in unsurfaced (unpaved) pavements. Friction forces
imparted on the surface of the pavement by the vehicle tyres tend to pull the
individual fibres from the sand and gravel over time. As the fibres are withdrawn
out of sand and gravel, the reinforcement of the stabilized layer is degraded
(Tingle et al. 2002). Resin-modified emulsion, biodegradable emulsion com-
posed of tree sap and water-emulsified resin base are some examples of spray-on
materials available commercially under different trade names. Different types of
ultraviolet ray-resistant plastic mat panels are also available in the market for use
as surfacings.
• The cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced soil may be used to construct the top
layers of an embankment if it has to support a pavement or any other
structural load.
• The monofilament fibres show a great potential for use in rapid stabilization of
sandy soils for pavement base/subbase applications. The field demonstration
tests should be carried out to test fibre stabilization performance under actual
road/air traffic landing. The field tests should also be conducted to test the
durability and maintenance requirements for sand-fibre pavement layers
(Santoni and Webster 2001).
• The laboratory investigations carried out by Santoni et al. (2001) indicate the
optimum conditions for fibre reinforcement to include the following: a dirty sand
with 1–4% silt; the use of 51-mm (2 in.) long fibrillated fibres at the smallest
available denier; a fibre content of 0.8% by dry weight; fibres and soil mixed at
2% of optimum water content of the of the composite material.
• In general, the addition of cement significantly increases the strength of soil
under both static and dynamic loads, contributes to the volume stability, and
increases the resistance to liquefaction in fine sandy and coarse silty soils. The
strength of cement-stabilized soil can further be increased significantly by
addition of fibres.
• For reinforcing the black cotton soils with glass fibres, the maximum fibre
content can be limited to 2% by weight to achieve the optimum benefits (Gosavi
et al. 2004).
• Since a potential use of fibre-reinforced cohesive soil is in landfill liners and
covers, it is important to assess the effect of specific fibre inclusion on hydraulic
conductivity of soil.
• For achieving more tensile strength of fibre-reinforced clayey soil, with a given
fibre content, shorter and better dispersed fibres should be used (Maher and Ho
1994).
• PP and glass fibre reinforcements can be used in kaolinite clay beams undergo-
ing flexural load to limit the cracks and increase the toughness (Maher and Ho
1994).
• Fibres can be mixed into soil for making embankment dams and other water-
retaining structures more resistant to piping erosion, provided the optimum fibre
content is selected based on a suitable piping test. A high fibre content, say
greater than 0.15% for PP and PET fibres, may be harmful and may actually
reduce the piping resistance (Das and Viswanadham 2010).
• A cluster of fibres in one location within the soil, which may take place with high
fibre content, can result in increased permeability, reduced piping resistance and
reduced strength.
• Dredging of sediments and dewatering of the dredged sediment/slurry through
the geotextile tubes is common engineering tasks in several countries. A varia-
tion in slurry particle sizes, particularly fine-grained particles, creates issues with
soil loss and dewatering rates within the geotextile tubes. The dewatering rate
and final filter cake properties have the most importance to dewatering applica-
tions. The faster the flocculated sediments settle and dewater, the quicker the
next geotextile tube can be filled. The pressure filtration tests show that the
dewatering time decreases significantly with inclusion of 0.5% of both nylon and
jute fibres, but is not dependent on the fibre length. However, the increase in
shear strength of filter cake is dependent on fibre length. Jute fibres do not show a
high strength gain as the nylon fibres but increase the dewatering times by an
average of 14–22% compared to filter cakes with nylon fibres. One possible
explanation for variations in dewatering rates between nylon and jute fibres can
be by the fact that jute fibres have a larger diameter and overall surface area,
which allows for more soil-fibre interaction, thereby causing an increase in void
volume through which water can pass easily and, therefore, expedite the
dewatering rate (Spritzer et al. 2015).
• Fibre reinforcement would be an efficient method in limiting or even preventing
the occurrence of the lateral movement of the sandy soils due to liquefaction as
normally observed for unreinforced sands (Noorzad and Amini 2014).
Quality Control
• Regular visual inspections should be carried out to control the randomness and
both the horizontal and vertical uniformity of the fibre distribution. The actual
fibre content at different locations should be checked by suitable methods and
compared with the design fibre content.
• While constructing the fibre-reinforced soil structure, the fibres should be
introduced in each sub-layer by mixing the amount of fibres with soil as per
the designed content.
• The compaction control through the dry unit weight measurement is of little
interest for fibre-reinforced soils because fibres do not just have a significantly
lower specific gravity than that of the soil particles; they are also a minor
physical component of the composite material. It is better to measure the
material stiffness for compaction control, which can be done by means of
Load-bearing pressure, q (kPa)

0 200 400 600 800
0
1
Settlement, r (mm)
Fig. 5.12 Results of the plate load tests conducted on randomly distributed monofilament PP
fibre-reinforced silty sand embankment (50 m long, 10 m wide and 0.6 m high), using a semi-rigid
circular plate, 300 mm in diameter, under repeated loading and unloading (Adapted from Falorca
et al. 2011)
compaction equipment integrating continuous control compaction (CCC)

(Falorca et al. 2011).
• The quality control may be done by conducting the plate load tests, which allow
direct characterization of the soil compressibility with the applied pressure, as
seen in Fig. 5.12.
• The ratio of porosity n to the volumetric cement content pvc, all expressed as
a percentage of the total volume, can be useful in the field control of cement-
stabilized fibre-reinforced soil. Based on the unconfined compressive strength
tests on specimens submerged for 24 h and achieving an average degree
of saturation of 87%, the following relationships have been suggested
to estimate the unconfined compressive strength qu (Consoli et al. 2010):
For cement-stabilized soil,
3:08
n
qu ðkPaÞ ¼ 2:2 10 7
R2 ¼ 0:98 ð5:8Þ
p0:28
vc
For cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced soil,

n 2:73
qu ðkPaÞ ¼ 1:0 10 7
R2 ¼ 0:95 ð5:9Þ
p0:28
vc
Equations (5.8) and (5.9) are relevant for specific materials (nonplastic silty
sand, classified as SM, Portland cement of high early strength, monofilament PP
fibres with fibre content ranging from 0 to 0.5%, cement content ranging from 0 to
8%) and test conditions, as considered by Consoli et al. (2010) in their experimental
study. Similar relationships may be developed for other materials and site condi-
tions for the specific field application. Attempts can also be made to present the
generalized relationships. During the quality control, once a poor compaction is
identified, it can be readily taken into account in the design, using these equations
and adopting corrective measures accordingly, such as the reinforcement of the
treated layer or the reduction in the load transmitted.
5.5 Scope of Research
As mentioned earlier, the actual behaviour of fibre-reinforced soils is not yet well
known because the current understanding is largely based on small-scale laboratory
investigations and very limited large-scale or field studies. Hence, further studies,
especially involving field tests and performance evaluation of different applica-
tions, are essentially required to better understand the behaviour of fibre-reinforced
soils so that the fibre-reinforcements can be routinely utilized based on a more
rational analysis and design. In spite of some limitations, reinforcing the soils with
discrete flexible fibres can be a cost-effective means of improving their perfor-
mance in several applications. Additionally the use of fibres from the waste
materials can reduce the disposal problem in an economically and environmentally
beneficial way. Detailed investigations are expected in the future on several aspects
of fibre-reinforced soils, including the following:
• Cost-effective mixing technique
• Optimum size and shape of fibres for different applications
• Durability of fibres in different physical and environmental site conditions
• Drainage and pore water pressure developments within the fibre-reinforced soil
• Effective stress concept for fibre-reinforced soil
• Creep behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil
• Freezing-thawing behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil
• Cyclic loading behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil
• Fibre-clay interface behaviour
• Generalized analysis and design methods for different specific applications of
fibre-reinforced soil
• Cost-benefit analysis of different applications of fibre-reinforced soil
5.5 Scope of Research 175
It is expected that applications of fibres in mining, agricultural and aquacultural

engineering will also be reported significantly in the future, although the applica-
tions discussed here are equally applicable for similar projects in these areas.
Note that some wastes, such as the municipal solid wastes, may be physically
similar to randomly distributed fibre-reinforced soils, and, therefore, the concepts of
fibre-reinforced soil engineering, as presented in this book, are also equally appli-
cable to such wastes to manage their disposal and utilization.
Chapter Summary
1. The technique of reinforcing soils with discrete fibres has several advantages,
and hence this has become one of the cost-effective and environmentally
friendly ground improvement techniques in the present-day construction
practice.
2. There are a large number of applications of fibre-reinforced soils in civil and
other related engineering areas. Major applications can be categorized as
geotechnical applications, transportation applications, and hydraulic and
geoenvironmental applications.
3. Much care is required to obtain a reasonably uniform distribution of fibres
within the soil mass, especially when the fibre content is large. Mixing of fibres
with soil can be carried out using an oscillatory- or helical-type mixer to avoid
fibre segregation, dragging, balling and floating problems, which are associated
with commonly used blade-type mixers.
4. Fibre-reinforced soil structures can be designed by composite or discrete
approach. The composite approach considers the fibre-reinforced soil a homo-
geneous material, while the discrete approach uses the contributions of soil and
fibres separately in the design.
5. Orientation of fibres must be considered properly in analysis and design of
fibre-reinforced soil structures. For field applications, the fibre content and the
aspect ratio should be selected based on experimental observations with spe-
cific soil and fibres under consideration as these two parameters significantly
govern the behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil, and moreover, they can be
controlled easily.
6. Addition of fibres to the soil backfill behind a retaining wall increases the
stability of the wall with reduced lateral earth pressure and displacement of
the wall.
7. Overall stability of a shallow foundation constructed over the weak foundation
soil can be significantly improved by placing a compacted cement-stabilized
fibre-reinforced soil layer of a suitable thickness (say 0.3B, where B being the
width of the footing) over the weak foundation soil.
8. Benefits of reinforcing the pavement layers with fibres are generally expressed
in terms of an extension of service life of the pavement and/or a reduction in the
thickness of pavement layer. Traffic benefit ratio (TBR) and layer reduction
ratio (LRR) are two commonly used parameters for design of pavement layers.
9. Fibres can be used effectively in reducing the seepage through the body of
water-retaining soil structures, increasing the soil-piping resistance and
controlling the desiccation cracks in compacted clay layers used in liner and
cover applications.
10. Some application experience and guidelines are available for successful appli-
cations of fibre-reinforced soils. Further studies, especially involving field tests
and performance evaluation, are expected to develop the confidence level for
different applications.
Questions for Practice

(Select the most appropriate answer to the multiple-choice questions from Q 5.1 to
Q 5.5.)
5.1 Tamping and vibration techniques for preparing the fibre-reinforced soil spec-
imens in moist condition lead to
(a) Vertical orientation of fibres
(b) Near-vertical orientation of fibres
(c) Horizontal orientation of fibres
(d) Near-horizontal orientation of fibres
5.2 Fibre inclusion in the pavement base soil
(a) Increases the dry unit weight
(b) Decreases the unconfined compressive strength
(c) Increases the CBR value
(d) Both (a) and (c)
5.3 The most suitable roller for compacting fibre-reinforced soils is
(a) Smooth wheel roller
(b) Vibratory rubber-tyred roller
(c) Sheepsfoot roller
(d) Grid roller
5.4 For protecting the synthetic fibres from UV degradation, the entire surface area
of fibre-reinforced soil embankment should be covered with a top soil layer
having a thickness of about
(a) 50 mm
(b) 100 mm
(c) 150 mm
(d) 200 mm
5.5 The beneficial effects of fibre reinforcement in soil can be enhanced signifi-
cantly by stabilizing the fibre-reinforced soil with cement in a suitable quantity,
say using cement content of
(a) 0.5–1%
(b) 1–5%
(c) 5–10%
(d) 10–20%
5.5 Scope of Research 177
5.6 What are the advantages exhibited by the fibre-reinforced soils?

5.7 In the laboratory, prepare a mixture of sand and fibres by any suitable means in
dry and wet conditions, and compare your observations about the fibre orien-
tation with those reported by the researchers as presented in this chapter.
5.8 List the potential application areas for fibre reinforcement.
5.9 Describe the techniques for preparing the laboratory test specimens of fibre-
reinforced soil.
5.10 What kind of fibre orientations is present in rolled-compacted fibre-
reinforced construction fills?
5.11 What considerations are required for the selection of fibres?
5.12 What are the different approaches for design of fibre-reinforced soil struc-
tures? Discuss their merits and demerits.
5.13 How can you determine the lateral earth pressure on a retaining wall from
fibre-reinforced cohesionless soil backfill?
5.14 For a fibre-reinforced sand backfill supported by a 10-m high retaining wall
with a vertical back face, consider the following:
Fibre-soil interface friction angle, ϕi ¼ 20∘
Volumetric fibre content, pvf ¼ 1.25%
Determine the total active earth pressure from the fibre-reinforced sand
backfill on the retaining wall, assuming the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as
an isotropic material.
5.15 For a fibre-reinforced foundation sand bed supported by a 0.75-m wide
surface strip footing, consider the following:
Fibre-soil interface friction angle, ϕi ¼ 20∘
Volumetric fibre content, pvf ¼ 1.25%
Determine load-bearing capacity of the surface strip footing resting over
the fibre-reinforced sand bed, assuming the fibre-reinforced sand behaves as
an isotropic material.
5.16 How can you control the desiccation cracks in clay liners and covers?
5.17 Define the following terms and explain their practical significance:
(a) Traffic benefit ratio
(b) Layer reduction ratio
(c) Crack intensity ratio
(d) Crack reduction factor
5.18 What considerations are required to design fibre-reinforced pavement

layers?
5.19 How can fibres help in using sand in top courses of a pavement?
5.20 Describe a practical method for improving the foundation soil using fibre
inclusions.
5.21 What is the effect of fibre inclusions into the soil backfill on the lateral earth
pressure against a retaining wall?
5.22 Can the use of fibres reduce the seepage through water-retaining structures?
Explain with the help of a neat sketch.
5.23 What is soil piping? What is the effect of fibres on piping resistance of soil?
5.24 Discuss the effect of fibre content on the hydraulic conductivity of medium
plasticity soil when it is reinforced with fibres.
5.25 With the help of a neat sketch, discuss the effect of fibre content on crack
reduction factor when fibres are included in clay layers?
5.26 Visit a local construction site where the soil is being reinforced with fibres.
Based on your observation, write a technical note, and identify the key
aspects of the application technique.
5.27 Why should water be added prior to inclusion of fibres into soil for creating
the fibre-reinforced soil?
5.28 List some major cares and considerations required for field applications of
fibre-reinforced soils.
5.29 What is the most effective method of fibre inclusions in soil? What are the
difficulties in mixing fibre and soil in a rotating drum mixer as the cement
concrete is prepared?
5.30 What do you mean by optimum mixing moisture content? What is its
practical significance and how you can estimate it?
5.31 Describe the procedure for an embankment construction using the fibre-
reinforced soil.
5.32 How can you increase the durability of natural fibres for their use as soil
reinforcement?
5.33 What are the benefits of inclusion of fibres into dredged sediments while
dewatering them through geotextile tubes?
5.34 Discuss the quality control considerations for applications of fibre-reinforced
soils.
Answers to Selected Questions
5.1 (d)
5.2 (c)
5.3 (b)
5.4 (a)
5.5 (c)
5.14 166.8 kN/m
5.15 856.4 kPa
References 179
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Chapter 5

Applications of Fibre-Reinforced Soil

5.2 Field Applications

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 145

procedure may be similar to that adopted for conventional soil stabilization

• Hydraulic and geoenvironmental applications: admixtures in soil to control the

As there are several factors affecting the engineering characteristics of fibre-

5.3 Analysis and Design Concepts

In Chap. 3, you learnt that the engineering behaviour of fibre-reinforced soil is

2. Discrete approach: The fibre-reinforced soil structure is analysed, considering

Michalowski (2008) presented the limit analysis of anisotropic fibre-reinfroced

Table 5.1 Active earth ϕ (degrees) δ (degrees) arpvf tan ϕi pr Ka

Table 5.2 Bearing capacity ϕ(degrees) arpvf tan ϕi pr Nγ

Fig. 5.1 A retaining wall

qa of a strip footing resting over fibre-reinforced cohesionless foundation soil

Fig. 5.2 A strip footing B

Fibre-soil interface friction angle,ϕi ¼ 20∘

Using the given values,

ar pvf tan ϕi ¼ ð75Þð0:01Þð tan 20 Þ ¼ 0:273

From Table 5.1, the active earth pressure coefficient,

Using the given values,

ar pvf tan ϕi ¼ ð75Þð0:01Þð tan 20 Þ ¼ 0:273

From Table 5.2, the bearing capacity factor,

Weak foundation soil

improving the engineering characteristics of soil. The scanning electron micros-

where N is the number of traffic loads/passes required for producing a pavement

Sheet pile wall

Coir fibre length = 50 mm

Desiccation cracking of soil is a problem encountered in many engineering

The value of CIR is normally expressed as a decimal.

hydraulic conductivity. The increase in hydraulic conductivity is most significant

5.4 Field Application Experience and Guidelines

Hydraulic conductivity, k (m/s)

reinforced backfill was also developed using a finite element programme

Load Strip footing

Single surface dressing

• Natural fibres may be protected from biodegradation by coating with suitable

suitably. The slope stability analysis of the fibre-reinforced slopes may be

Load-bearing pressure, q (kPa)

compaction equipment integrating continuous control compaction (CCC)

For cement-stabilized fibre-reinforced soil,

5.5 Scope of Research

It is expected that applications of fibres in mining, agricultural and aquacultural

Questions for Practice

5.6 What are the advantages exhibited by the fibre-reinforced soils?

5.18 What considerations are required to design fibre-reinforced pavement

Answers to Selected Questions

Michalowski RL (2008) Limit analysis with anisotropic fibre-reinforced soil. Geotechnique 58

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