Two experimental reinforced embankments were built up with clayed silt at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. These two identical full scale structures had the same dimensions (3.60 m height, 5×5 m base). They were reinforced using two types of geotextile : the first a non-woven type with weak mechanical properties, and the second one a stiffer woven geotextile. A complete instrumental program was set up to record the behaviour of the two embankments. A program including static and cyclic loading was performed.
In this paper we compare some of the significant results of these two full-scale tests. We show the influence of the textiles’ rigidity on the settlement at the embankment surface and the strain of the geotextile layers.