Swell–compression characteristics of a fiber–reinforced expansive soil

Abstract

This study presents results of an experimental program with respect to fiber's capacity of mitigating the swelling behavior of an expansive soil. Two types of tape–shaped fibers, i.e. fiber A (width fw = 2.5 mm) and fiber B (fw = 7 mm), were used as the reinforcements. The fibers were included at three contents, i.e. fc = 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%, each having two lengths or aspect ratios (fAR = 15/2.5 and 30/2.5 for fiber A, and fAR = 15/7 and 30/7 for fiber B). For a given fiber type (constant fw), improvement in swelling potential/pressure was observed to be a direct function of fc and fl (fiber length) or fAR, with the former taking on a more pronounced role. In addition, for a given fc and fl, ..