Dynamic finite element analysis of sandy soil-pipe system reinforced by Geogrid

Abstract EN

The stability of tunnels and other underground structures under the influence of dynamic load is one of the important issues that should be studied carefully.

The objective of the present paper is to study the effect of the geogrid reinforcement in transfer of the dynamic load to the underground structure.

The underground structure was simulated as a plastic pipe within the soil.

The investigation focuses on the influence of parameters such as load amplitude, depth of geogrid layer and width of geogrid layer using the finite element method by QUAKE/W computer program for the analysis.

It was concluded that when the geogrid reinforcement width equals (1B), the total stress on the crown of pipe decreases by about (17%) compared with unreinforced soil, but this percentage decreases to (10%) when the geogrid width equals to (2B).

The percent vertical settlement on the pipe crown decreases by about (35%) when using reinforcement of width equals (2B) compared with test results unreinforced soil, while when the width equals (1B), the percent vertical settlement decreases to about (15%), this indicates that when the width of reinforced soil increases, the vertical settlement decreases.