Laboratory validation of seismic damage assessment in reinforced soil models based on sensor-enabled piezoelectric geogrids (SPGG)

Abstract: 

Earthquakes are common geological disasters, and slopes under seismic loading

can trigger coseismic landslides, while also becoming unstable due to accumulated damage

caused by the seismic activity. 

Reinforced soil slopes are widely used as seismic-resistant

geotechnical systems. However, traditional geosynthetics cannot sense internal damage in

reinforced soil systems, and existing in-situ distributed monitoring technologies are not

suitable for seismic conditions, thus limiting accurate post-earthquake stability assessments of

slopes. This study presents, for the first time, the use of a batch molding process to fabricate

self-sensing piezoelectric geogrids (SPGG) for distributed monitoring of soil behavior under

seismic conditions. The SPGG's reinforcement and damage sensing abilities were verified

through model experiments. Results show that SPGG significantly enhances soil seismic

resistance and can detect soil failure locations through voltage distortions. Additionally, the

tensile deformation of the reinforcement material can be quantified with sub-centimeter

precision by tracking impedance changes, enabling high-precision distributed monitoring of

reinforced soil under seismic conditions. Notably, when integrated with wireless transmission

technology, the SPGG-based monitoring system offers a promising solution for real-time

monitoring and early warning in road infrastructure, where rapid detection and response to

seismic hazards are critical for mitigating catastrophic outcomes. 

Keywords: 

Sensor-enabled geosynthetics (SEG), Reinforced soil, Failure localization, Failure quantification, Seismic simulation