The Effect of Polypropylene Fibre on the Behaviour of Soil Mass with Reference to the Strength Parameters

Abstract

The stability of the soil is one of the important factor during the construction of a structure. For better performance of structures built on such soils, the performance characteristics of such soils need to be improved. The poor engineering performance of such soils has forced Engineers to attempt to improve the engineering properties of poor quality soils.This paper presents how polypropylene fibers influence on shear strength parameters of the soil. In the initial stage, the effect of polypropylene fiber on maximum dry density and optimum moisture content with different fiber inclusion were studied. Test specimens were prepared with various percentages such as 0%, 0.05%, 0.15%, 0.25%, and 0.35% with the same dry density. In the second stage unconfined compression test were carried out to determine the shear strength parameters of the soil. From this study it was observed that polypropylene fibers could be an effective method to improve the physical and mechanical properties of the subsoil with minimum percentage of reinforcement.