The bearing capacity of geosynthetics reinforced unpaved roads over sott soil has been investigated by
the mean of extensive full scale laboratory testing consisting in measuring the settlements distribution in a reinforced section when stressed cyclically with a load simulating a truck wheel. The ruts depths were measured as a function of the numbers of cycles, of the aggregate thickness, of the sub grade shear strength and of the reinforcement type· and location. The ability of the reinforcement to distribute the load over a wider sub grade surface area was monitored and analysed. The results of the reinforced sections have been compared with the corresponding unreinforced sections showing the advantages of the use of the geosynthetics in increasing the road service life and savings in aggregate thickness. Due to the large dimensions of the reinforced sections and the number of tests performed this paper is a valuable tool for empirical design and verification of the theoretical assumptions.
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