Settlement Performance of Bamboo Dendrocalamus Asper for Improving Peat Soil Reinforcement Stability

Abstract

Soil reinforcement is the geotechnical application for the soil mass reinforcement elements to increase the shear characteristics of the soil grid. Bamboo is a sustainable source for the wood industry that has been applied in construction soil foundations as a soil reinforcement material. The use of bamboo types Dendrocalamus asper for soft soil reinforcement stability is important and commonly used. Peat, as a very soft soil, is known as problematic soil, and organic soil has poor shear strength and high compressibility. In construction especially for peat soil foundation or subgrade, it has settlement and deformation because of loss of strength. The peat soil from Kampung Puteri Menangis, Benut Pontian Johor has been used in the experimental work to determine the displacement of the settlement performance characteristics without and with the laminated beams of bamboo Dendracalamus asper.  Without bamboo, the displacement of the settlement reduces from 22.4% to 6.8% within 1 hour. The use of 1 layer of laminated bamboo reinforcement on the foundation base reduced the displacement of the settlement from 27.2% to 8.9%. The displacement continues to decrease from 19.3% to 5.8% for two layers of laminated bamboo reinforcement, and 18.9% to 5.9% for 3 layers of laminated bamboo reinforcement. At each stage and duration, the peat shows displacement in compression, and the settlement of the reinforcement stability is smaller than in the other stage.