Soil–geosynthetic interaction

• 2.1.

  Introduction

• 2.2.

  Granular soil behaviour

• 2.3.

  Soil–geosynthetic interaction mechanisms

• 2.4.

  Soil–geosynthetic interface resistance

• 2.5.

  Factors influencing soil–geosynthetic interaction

• 2.6.

  Laboratory tests for quantification of soil–geosynthetic interface resistance

• 2.7.

  Summary of main points

• 2.8.

  Some common questions and their answers

• References

Soil–geosynthetic interaction mechanisms and soil–geosynthetic interface resistance are referred to in this chapter. Factors influencing soil–geosynthetic interaction, such as soil particle size, confinement stress, soil density and geosynthetic structure, are analysed. The main relevance of soil particle size when the reinforcement is a geogrid is put forward. Direct shear and pull-out laboratory tests for the quantification of soil–geosynthetic interface resistance are described in detail. Emphasis is given to an explanation of the limitations of these tests, test procedures, and the test results and their analysis.