The Effect of Geotextile Spacing and Tensile Strength Variations on Embankment Safety Factor under Short-Term Conditions Using PLAXIS 2D Analysis

Abstract

High embankments are susceptible to slope instability, necessitating slope reinforcement using geotextiles to help improve the safety factor of embankment slopes. This study examines the effects of geotextile layer spacing and geotextile tensile strength on the safety factor using PLAXIS 2D numerical analysis. The variables employed in this study are embankments with heights of 10 m and 20 m. Geotextile spacing was varied at 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, and 0.2 m, with the number of geotextile layers kept constant according to the embankment height, while the tensile strength values used were 50, 200, and 500 kN/m. Analyses were performed under short-term conditions with and without the influence of the groundwater table on a homogeneous clay foundation soil. The results show that the increase in SF value is more strongly influenced by geotextile spacing. Meanwhile, geotextile tensile strength is also capable of increasing the SF value; however, this increase is not particularly significant, as the effect of spacing is more dominant. In addition, the presence of the groundwater table reduces the safety factor across all reinforcement configurations due to the decrease in effective stress in the soil.