Analysis of dredge materials and crushed glass blends with uniaxial geogrids in pullout tests

Being able to identify blended dredged material and crushed glass of different proportions as materials suitable for Mechanically Stabilized Earth walls could help the adoption of these materials in civil engineering thereby reducing the environmental impact of these waste materials.

The objectives of this thesis include the following: Collect and organize data to facilitate material selection based on interaction properties with uniaxial geogrids; analyze the data for trends for varying percentages of crushed glass vs. dredged materials; compare the properties of different blends with those of a well-documented uniform sand; compare the pullout data with that of previous studies related to the presence of fines in the fill material; and compare the pullout data to that of previous studies on the effect of geogrid rib thickness.

The main findings of this thesis study include the following: A blend of 80% crushed glass and 20% dredged material is a legitimate alternative backfill material for reinforced soil slopes. The use of 100% crushed glass as a fill material is not recommended due to glass particles embedding into the geogrid thereby reducing the tensile capacity of the geogrid. Blends with lower percentages of crushed glass and higher percentages of dredged material may be appropriate based on the requirements of individual designs. The increased thickness of the UX1700 geogrid over the UX1400 geogrid contributed to higher a pullout resistance for each combination of fill material and normal stress.