EVALUATION OF DAMAGE AND FLOW IN REINFORCED GEOMATERIAL SUBJECTED TO VIBRATORY LOADS

Abstract

In the present study, a series of numerical and experimental simulations have been carried out to investigate the flow of the geomaterial in confined state. The finite element modelling in a commercialized software package Abaqus was then carried out to investigate the flow characteristics of confined geomaterial subjected to vibratory loads. The increase of friction angle and load shows a drop in the magnitude of flow shearing stresses. A model testing was then carried out to investigate the characteristics of waves in term of voltage output. The damage and flow in terms of stiffness capacity with penetration has been evaluated for the confined geomaterial subjected to vibratory loads. The CBR method has been used to capture the stiffness capacity and penetration factor for the selected set of geogrid reinforcements. The stiffness capacity (0.95) of unreinforced and geogrid reinforced sections have been substantiated with stiffness capacity for jute reinforcement sections. It has been observed that geogrid reinforcement enhances the stiffness capacity of the geomaterial matrix in contrast to jute and unreinforced sections. Moreover, the three layers of geogrid effectively dampens the stress waves and likely to be a reason for improved stiffness capacity. The findings from the presented investigations implies that the proposed concept of flow geomaterial is very crucial geostructures and likely to open a new avenue of research in the field of confined geomaterial dynamics.