The performance of a sand reinforced with coconut fibers through plate load tests on a true scale physical model

Abstract

The use of recycled materials has experienced a growing global interest in the last decades. Products like natural fibers are being studied to replace synthetic fibers in some applications because they are renewable resources that have a lower cost. Fibers can be used as reinforcement for covers of landfill sites, landfilling over soft soils, and evapotranspiration covers. The use of coconut fibers represent an opportunity to reduce the environmental issue waste of this fruit in tropical countries. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the load-settlement behavior of non-reinforced and reinforced sand with coconut fibers using either a random or a layered distribution. In that sense, plate load tests with both non-reinforced and reinforced sand were performed fixing the moisture content and percentage of fibers for all tests. The results show that the greatest settlement reduction is obtained with layered distribution. Conversely, random distribution provides more ductility and, consequently, the mixture can resist a highest load than layered distribution.