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Millions of tonnes of bagasse are annually generated as waste from the sugar industry, the disposal of which poses a critical global challenge. To address this, the study explores the potential utilization of sugarcane bagasse fibers as a reinforcing material to sand, aiming to enhance its mechanical properties through laboratory investigations. Initially, the primary physical characteristics of both sand and bagasse fibers are examined using laboratory tests and scanning electron microscopy. Further, consolidated drained triaxial compression tests were carried out on sand specimens, with fiber contents varying from 0 to 2%. The investigations encompass the influence of fiber content, fiber length, and effective confining pressures on the strength parameters, dilation, and stiffness of reinforced sand. Upon shearing, the bagasse reinforced sands exhibited a strain-softening behavior at low fiber contents and a strain hardening behavior at higher fiber contents. Results indicate the beneficial utilization of bagasse fiber in enhancing the strength parameters, and reducing the residual strength loss of sand, sensitive to the effective confining stress. With increase in percentage of bagasse fiber, the dilation of sand was found to be decreasing. The inclusion of bagasse fibers also leads to a reduction in the initial and secant stiffness of the sand. Furthermore, as the length of fiber shortens at same percentage of fiber, the peak and critical angle of friction reduces. Based on the test results, a normalized model of the reinforced sand has been developed to capture the peak and residual states of the sand in correlation with different critical parameters.

来源平台：INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOSYNTHETICS AND GROUND ENGINEERING