Geosynthetic-reinforced soils above voids: Observation and prediction of soil arching

The assumption with the biggest impact on the design of geosynthetic-reinforced soils above voids is the presence and degree of soil arching, which affects the predicted applied stress on the geosynthetic. A series of centrifuge tests were conducted to investigate the soil arching in geosynthetic-reinforced soils with measurements of the soil stresses and observation of soil and geosynthetic deformation used to infer the arching behaviour. Detailed analysis of the results showed that arching significantly reduces the stress at the base of the soil when a void forms; this mechanism is due to stress redistributions and not the formation of a physical arch as suggested in some models. A new method to reliably predict this reduction is proposed by calculating the coefficient of lateral stress on vertical failure planes based on the observations of a continuous convex arc of major principal strains above the void, and the assumption that this is indicative of the stress behaviour.