The Effect of Fiber Content on Cohesive Properties of Fiber Reinforced Cemented Sands

Soil stabilization is a common technique to improve the engineering properties of soil in pavement applications. Cement stabilization has been applied in both fine and granular soils for a long time. It is found that the strength and load-bearing capacity of cemented sands can be increased by the inclusion of randomly distributed reinforcing materials such as fibers. Since large-scale experimental fracture tests on fiber reinforced cemented soils are difficult and costly, it’s necessary to use numerical models to obtain quantitative estimations. The cohesive crack modeling is an effective tool in exploring fracture behavior of various materials. In this study, a quadlinear cohesive law is implemented in a finite element code to model fracture process in fiber reinforced cemented sand samples. The quadlinear cohesive law parameters of specimens in four-point bending tests are determined by the back-calculation of the mechanical response of samples which were made of sand, type I Portland cement, and polypropylene fibers. Finally, the relationship between parameters of the model and the fiber content has been presented.