Elastic settlements of circular footings on geosynthetic-reinforced soil

The interactions between soil and a buried circular geosynthetic reinforcement layer placed below a circular load are studied using elastic continuum theory with particular regard for the reinforcement effect in reducing surface settlements. To represent the displacement at the soil-inextensible geosynthetic reinforcement interface, the net radial displacements are equated to zero, and for the soil-extensible geosynthetic reinforcement interface, the net radial displacements are equated to the radial elongations assuming the reinforcement behaves as a thin membrane. A parametric study illustrates the effect of the reinforcement layer radius and depth on reducing surface settlements.