Numerical simulation of beam-shaped soil structure reinforced by geosynthetics

A full-scale model test was conducted to investigate the mechanism of soil reinforcement by geosynthetic materials. A beam shaped soil structure reinforced by geosynthetics was designed and the global momentum stiffness was examined. This paper presents a brief description of the theoretical estimate of the global momentum stiffness of the reinforced structure for the laboratory model test and the numerical simulation of the full scale model test. The numerical simulation and the field test indicate that the effect of soil confinement by the geosynthetic material was particularly significant. A comparison of the numerical and field results is also presented.