Natural Fibers: An Alternative for the Reinforcement of Expansive Soils

Carlos J. Medina-Martinez, Luis Carlos Sandoval-Herazo, Sergio A. Zamora-Castro, Rodrigo Vivar-Ocampo and David Reyes-Gonzalez
Additional contact information
Carlos J. Medina-Martinez: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sucre, Sincelejo 700001, Colombia
Luis Carlos Sandoval-Herazo: Division of Postgraduate Studies and Reseacrh, Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico, Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Misantla, Km 1.8 Carretera a Loma de Cojolite, Misantla 93821, Mexico
Sergio A. Zamora-Castro: Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz 93164, Mexico
Rodrigo Vivar-Ocampo: Renewable Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Baja California, Blvd. Universitario #1000, Valle de las Palmas, Tijuana 21500, Mexico
David Reyes-Gonzalez: Division of Postgraduate Studies and Reseacrh, Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico, Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Misantla, Km 1.8 Carretera a Loma de Cojolite, Misantla 93821, Mexico

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: The reinforcement of soils is the technique that geotechnical engineers currently use to improve the shear strength and bearing capacity parameters, especially when the land available for the execution of a project is not able to withstand the structural loads to which it is subjected. One of the techniques, used for this purpose since ancient times, is the incorporation of fibers into the soil matrix; however, great interest in its study has only begun in the last two, mainly because it constitutes a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative. In this paper, a brief bibliographic review is presented on seven of the natural fibers that are currently used in order to improve the mechanical behavior of expansive clay soils (bamboo, jute, coco, palm, sugar cane bagasse, rise husk, and sawdust). It can be concluded that in many cases, the addition of certain amounts of natural fibers increases the parameters of resistance to the cutting of soils.

Keywords: soil improvement; expansive clays; bearing capacity; natural fibers; shear strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9275/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9275/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9275-:d:874519

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().