Comparative Study on Effect of Embedment Depth and Reinforcement Spacing on the Performance of Square Footing Embedded in Geogrid Reinforced Flyash Beds Under Cyclic Loading

The reinforced soil is a very cost-effective technique to improve the stability and control the deformation by inserting tensile elements in the soil. When load acts on the composite soil reinforcement system, soil generates tensile loads in the reinforcements. These loads restrict the soil movements and impart the additional shear strength. Geogrid is one of the geosynthetic materials used to reinforce soils. Handling and disposal problems of flyash can be reduced by using flyash as a construction material in geotechnical engineering applications. ADTA (automated dynamic testing apparatus) is a computer-controlled device runs on a Movicon software and is used in the present investigation to apply the cyclic load on the footing. Both unreinforced and reinforced flyash beds are prepared by manual compaction at its MDD and OMC. The flyash beds having reinforcement at a spacing of 0.3 times width of footing perform better than the reinforcement at a spacing of 0.4 times width of footing for all loading conditions for footing. Footing embedded at a depth of two times of the width of footing performs better by taking more number of loading cycles and undergoing less settlement when compared to footing embedded at a depth of one times the width of square footing.