Pullout behavior of geosynthetic reinforcement in biocemented soils

The pullout resistance of a geosynthetic reinforcement is crucial for the design of reinforced soil structures. In this paper, an innovative concept, biocementation-geosynthetic (BG) system is presented, in which biocementation is used in combination with geosynthetic to increase the pullout resistance of the geosynthetic reinforcement. A series of pullout tests were conducted in laboratory to obtain the pullout behavior of the biocementation-geosynthetic system. From the pullout test results, it was found that the BG system was more efficient in enhancing the pullout resistant as compared with the ordinary geosynthetic (OG) system. For both geosynthetic strips and biaxial geogrid, the BG system had a higher pullout resistance at various levels of relative density. The BG system with only about 0.65% calcite produced by the biocementation process has a 13%–38% improvement in the pullout resistance compared to the OG system. In addition, the interface shear strength parameters (the adhesion c_a and average interface friction angle ϕ) of the BG system are also higher than that of the corresponding OG system in most cases, indicating the better interface performance of the BG system.