TEKNIK DERGI, vol.31, no.3, pp.9967-9985, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
Development of technology gives the opportunity to mankind to build larger, heavier and more complex structures. For geotechnical engineers, faced with transferring the loads that is more complex and increasing, stabilization of soil, and determination of stress distribution and settlement has become inevitable. Geotextiles which have been used in soil stabilization increasingly in recent years affect bearing capacity of soil. Stress distribution in terms of settlement calculation and bearing capacity are some of the most important parameters for foundation design. In this study, several tests were carried out with model strip footing in plane strain conditions in reinforced cohesionless soil and the vertical stress increments occurred in the soil medium due to applied vertical surface loads were determined at several specific locations. In scope of experimental study, the sand reinforced with geotextile sheet was placed in layers in a tank with three different relative densities and vertical stress increments were measured by pressure gauges placed at predetermined locations. Subsequently, the experimental setup was modelled with PLAXIS 2D and vertical stress increments were obtained with Mohr-Coulomb model. Additionally vertical stress distribution in soil was calculated with analytical methods (Poulos and Boussinesq) based on elasticity theory. As the findings obtained from these studies were examined, it was understood that relative density is a very effective parameter for stress distribution in soils. However, the methods based on elasticity theory give rather erroneous results in low relative density reinforced soil.