Numerical Evaluation of Size Effect on the Stress-Strain Behaviour of Geotextile-Reinforced Sand

This paper studies the effect of sample size on the stress-strain behavior and strength characteristics of geotextile reinforced sand using the finite element numerical analysis. The effect of sample size was investigated by studying the effects of varying the number of geotextile layers, the confining pressure and the type of geotextile. Modeling was performed on samples with five different diameters: 38, 100, 200, 500 and 600 mm. The elastic-plastic Mohr-Coulomb model was used to simulate sand behavior. Results showed that small-sized samples show higher values of peak strength and higher axial strain at failure in comparison with large-sized samples. The size effect on the behavior of samples became further apparent when the number of geotextile layers was increased or the confining pressure was decreased. In addition, the results indicated that the magnitude of the size effect on the mechanical behavior of reinforced sand decreases with an increase in the sample size.