Mechanism of road embankment reinforced with geotextile

The mechanism of road embankment reinforced with geotextile is studied with nonlinear finite element method. By comparative computing of the unreinforced road embankment with reinforced one, it is shown that the road embankment on soft soil foundation can be reinforced with geotextile effectively. The safety of embankment can be enhanced more than 20 % with geotextile, and the lateral displacement is reduced 15 %-25 %. Whether the vertical settlement could be reduced with geotextile or not, is dependents on the width of road and characteristic of foundation. With vertical settlement develops greatly, the lateral displacement at consolidation phase become less than that of construction phase. More exact instrument should be used to investigate the variation of lateral displacement at different construction phases. It is shown that there is no influence on dissipation of excess pore water pressure with geotxtile only. In order to reinforce the embankment effectively, it is advised that geotextile should be set on high-stress zone. Furthermore, the limitation of conventional limit equilibrium method used in investigating embankment reinforced with geotextile is analyzed.