ABSTRACT
Construction of steep earth fills by using Kanto loam and / or construction by-products has become a common practice in Japan. This is due mainly to the development of composite fabrics which has a good tensile strength and high drainage potentials. This paper aims at providing fundamental data which can be used to develop a new design method of steep reinforced earth fill by considering both the tensile strength and the drainage effect of the composite. For this purpose two series of model embankment test were carried out. The model test was for earth fill reinforced with three kinds of geosynthetics; composite fabric (considering reinforcing and drainage effects), geogrid (reinforcing effect only) and non-woven fabric (drainage effect only). The testing procedure for the two cases was the same with only difference in the consolidation time. Result have shown that composite fabric is the best among the three kind of geosynthetics due to its efficiency in providing sufficient shear strength at the soil-fabric interface and also in facilitating the drainage of the earth fill.
