REINFORCED GRANULAR FILL SOFT SOIL SYSTEM - CONFINEMENT EFFECT

A new mathematical model has been developed for the analysis of a rein forced foundation bed by incorporating the confinement effect of a sin gle layer of reinforcement. It is quantified in terms of the average i ncrease in confining pressure due to the reinforcement from which modi fied shear stiffnesses of the granular soil surrounding the reinforcem ent are obtained. Parametric studies for plane strain conditions show that the confinement effect of reinforcement leads to an improved mech anical response over, the unreinforced granular fill-soft soil foundat ion system.