US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of a Multi-Function Geosynthetic Testing Apparatus.

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

0001571 Ashmawy Description: This award is to support a collaborative project by Dr. Alaa Ashmawy, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, and Dr. Ahmed Hosny Abdel-Rahman, Engineering Research division, the National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. The scientists plan to build a multi-function large-scale testing apparatus to conduct a comprehensive laboratory program on geosynthetically reinforced soils. The goal is to develop the capability to investigate the factors affecting the performance of these reinforced soils and to develop more accurate models for use in numerical simulation of reinforced earth structures. Scope: The US PI and the Egyptian collaborator have extensive experience in this area of research. Theoretical work has been carried out by the Egyptian scientist to develop models for soils reinforced with geosynthetic materials, such as geomembranes, geotextiles and geogrids. The US scientist is investigating the long-term behavior of geosynthetics under funding from the Florida Department of Transportation. The present research is intended to address the implementation of the geosynthetic sheets as earth-reinforcing inclusions to soil masses. The use of such materials is gaining popularity in civil and environmental projects in the United States and is beginning to gain attention in Egypt as an effective means to increase soil strength when building embankments and retaining walls, in fluid filtration and drainage and in waste containment such as in landfills. One US graduate student at USF will participate in this collaboration. This proposal meets the INT objective of supporting collaborative research in areas of mutual interest. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.