EFFECT OF COIR GEOTEXTILE AS REINFORCEMENT ON THE LOAD SETTLEMENT CHARACHTERISTICS OF WEAK SUBGRADE

Abstract

Geotextiles are permeable fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce and drain. It is not only allows reduction in the thickness of the pavement on a soft subgrade by the reinforcement action of geotextiles but gives less maintenance problems for long-term use. Coir geotextiles are made from coconut fibre which is a natural material composed of ligno cellulose cell obtained from the husk of coconut. This paper presents the strength aspects of woven coir geotextiles on weak subgrade. In this paper, the results of laboratory investigation on the load-deformation behavior of the road sections are summarized. Two different varieties of coir geotextiles H2M5 and H2M6 were used as reinforcement in pavement section. The static plate load test results provide evidence that the inclusion of H2M5 coir geotextile gives higher strength at lower deformation compared to unreinforced section. Also, horizontal tensile strain and vertical compressive strain values were determined using KENPAVE software. The result of KENPAVE analysis shown that the section reinforced with H2M5 coir geotextile has lower strains as compared to unreinforced and H2M6 coir geotextile reinforced sections.