A STUDY OF SETTLEMENT RESPONSE OF A GEOSYNTHETIC-REINFORCED COMPRESSIBLE GRANULAR FILL SOFT SOIL SYSTEM

The compressibility of granular fill in a geosynthetic-reinforced gran ular fill - soft soil system has been disregarded in most of the studi es carried out so far. It is appropriate to consider this aspect in si tuations where the system is used as a foundation for structures which need accurate settlement predictions. In this paper, a foundation mod el is proposed to incorporate the compressibility of the granular fill by attaching a layer of Winkler springs to the Pasternak shear layer. The parametric studies carried out reveal that the consideration of t he compressibility of the granular fill results in a significant incre ase in the settlement of the reinforced foundation soil.