Numerical analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced embankments of the road widening

Due to the rapid increase of traffic volume, the capacity of many old roads can not meet the requirement in China. Considering the technical and economic factors, the widening of the old roads is an effective solution. When widening a road embankment, differential settlement and pavement cracking along the joint between the old and new embankments often appear. This will deteriorate the riding performance of the widened road greatly. In this paper, a numerical study has been conducted to investigate the deformation of geosynthetic-reinforced embankments and soft soil ground using ABAQUS. The various effectiveness of geosynthetic embedded at different places and the length embedded in the old embankment are examined. The influences of the modulus of geosynthetic on the behavior of geosynthetic-reinforced embankments were also studied. It was found that the geosynthetic in the new embankment not only reduces the differential settlement between the new and old embankments but also limits the horizontal deformation of the new embankment, The effect of geosynthetic-reinforcement in the widening embankments was enhanced with the increase of the geosynthetic modulus. In addition, the geosynthetic strain decreases gradually with its place moving upward from the bottom of the new embankment. Consequently, two layers of reinforcement with one in the middle of the new embankment and the other on its bottom were suggested. At the same time, part of the geosynthetic should be embedded in the old embankment.