Application of Geogrid for the Rock-Soil Interface Stability in Railway Embankments

Geogrid has been used for the last few decades mainly as a reinforcing material. The application of geogrid in railway embankment formation to lessen the settlement and thereby stress is well addressed by researchers. This literature explores the application of geogrid to arrest the possible shear failure at the rock-soil interface in deep rock cuts for the formation of high railway embankments. The geogrid is fixed to the rock-cut face using anchors and plates with adequate overlap. This provision of geogrids will avoid the requirement of berm formations for the interface stability and this in turn evades the toe cutting of rock mass which may affect global stability. An extensive parametric study is performed by numerical modeling of railway embankments at deep-cut rocks using the finite element tool, PLAXIS 2D. The strength and other parameters of geogrid required for this application are decided by numerical studies and are recommended for field implementation.