POTENTIAL OF ROCK FLOUR FOR USE IN REINFORCED SOIL CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

Interfacial friction angle developed by a fill material with reinforcing material plays a vital role in the design and performance of any reinforced soil structures. Frictional fills (clean graded sands) are preferred over cohesive - frictional fills in construction of reinforced soil structures such as reinforced earth retaining walls and reinforced soil beds since they exhibit higher frictional strength with reinforcements. The cost of reinforced earth construction can be reduced significantly by using an alternate cost-effective material as fill that can interact with reinforcement through friction. The present paper is intended to assess the potential of rock flour, a waste material available at rock crushing plants for use as fill material in the construction of reinforced soil structures. Extensive laboratory investigations were carried out on rock flour samples collected from various quarries to evaluate engineering properties and frictional characteristics of the material with synthetic geofabrics. Detailed discussion is made on the test results and conclusions are drawn regarding the utilization of rack flour as fill material in various reinforced soil constructions.