Experimental study of the behavior of square footing on reinforced sand with treated geotextile

Abstract Bearing capacity of reinforced footing clearly depends on the characteristics of interface between geosynthetic and soil. A suitable solution for increasing the bearing capacity is to treat the geotextile surface by various additives. This study reported the results of plate load test on square model footing resting on reinforced sand with and without treated geotextiles to survey the effects of the treatment of geotextile on settlement and bearing capacity. The treated geotextiles were made using additives onto the surface, with a layer of sand located on the top. Geotextile sides were treated in the same way. Different additives including the lime, cement, emulsion, and the effect of the number of layers were considered. The bearing capacity ratio values (BCR), improvement ratio values (IR) and variation of load-settlement ratio obtained from the treated models were presented. The results showed that the treatment of geotextile has a great effect on the behavior of reinforced sand and thus bearing capacity. Also, the test results indicated that lime-treated geotextiles provided better improvement than other additives. The maximum improvement in the bearing capacity of square footing supported on treated geotextiles was found to be 75% compared with the pristine geotextiles.