Investigation and comparison of palm tree pruning waste and geotextile reinforced sand soil with model experiments

In this study, the usability of Palm Tree Pruning Waste (PTPW) instead of geotextile was investigated to improve the subgrade soil. The aim here is to offer a natural, recyclable, and environmentally friendly alternative solution that can be used instead of geotextile. The sand was used as the subgrade soil and 14 static plate loading tests were performed to calculate and compare the Bearing Capacity Improvement Factor (BCIF) for both geotextile and PTPW at different relative densities, different reinforcement depth, and different number of reinforcement layers. As a result of the experiments, a great increase in the performance of the subgrade soil was observed with the use of PTPW as a reinforcement material. In addition, higher bearing capacity was obtained from soils reinforced with PTPW than from soils reinforced with geotextiles. As the reinforcement depth increased, the bearing capacity decreased and increased as the number of reinforcements increased. It has also been observed that the sand's relative density significantly affects the subgrade's bearing capacity. The highest BCIF value was obtained when the PTPW was used as a reinforcement with two layers at a sand subgrade relative density of 80%.