Laboratory Study of Heave Behavior of Expansive Clay Reinforced with Geopiles

Abstract

This paper presents heave behavior of an expansive clay reinforced with geopiles, which are vertical cylindrical cells made of geogrid and filled with geomaterials. When a geopile is installed vertically in an expansive soil, heave is controlled because of the friction mobilized at the interface formed by the fill material, geogrid-expansive soil. The effects of diameter of the geopile and the type of the fill material on heave response have been investigated in this study. The results indicated that heave decreased with increasing diameter of the geopile and increase in the particle size of the fill material. Results are also presented from tests conducted on groups of geopiles using two and four geopiles together to investigate the influence of spacing on heave between the geopiles. In the case of a group of geopiles, spacing between the geopiles was varied and its effect on heave studied. Heave decreased with closer spacing between the geopiles. No group effect of geopiles was observed when the spacing was more than four times the diameter of the geopile.