Investigação experimental de fundações rasas reforçadas com geogrelhas utilizando solo transparente

Abstract

In view of the difficulty of reconciling economical foundation projects in locations with low bearing capacity soils, research was carried out on soil reinforcement with geogrids to enable the use of shallow foundations. To evaluate the load-settlement behavior of these foundations, this research uses the transparent soil technique, which allows for non-intrusive internal visualization of the soil mass through small-scale laboratory tests. To this end, it was necessary to evaluate the influence of the geogrid positioning depth, the number of reinforcement layers, and the physical and mechanical characteristics of the materials used in the system. Therefore, an experimental investigation was conducted based on physical modeling using transparent soil, composed of fused quartz saturated with a fluid of equivalent refractive index. It was verified that the reinforcement significantly increases the system's bearing capacity, with the strategic positioning of the layers being the predominant factor for the system's success, since well-positioned layers can surpass the performance of multiple reinforcements arranged inefficiently. Furthermore, the transparency of the medium proved to be effective for the accurate observation of internal displacements, which underscores that physical models with transparent soils are valuable tools for understanding complex mechanisms in foundation engineering.