ELSEVIER Geotextiles and Geomembranes 13 (I994) 531-543 1994 Elsevier ScienceLimited Printed in Ireland. 0266-1144/94/$7.00 The Effect of Prestressing on the Settlement Characteristics of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Sanjay Kumar Shukla & Sarvesh Chandra Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India (Received 22 December 1993; accepted 4 February 1994) B Gb Gb at Gt Ht Hb ABSTRACT In this paper, the effect of prestressing the geosynthetic reinforcement on the settlement behaviour of geosynthetic-reinforeed granular fill-soft soil system is studied. The foundation model element proposed by Madhav and Poorooshasb (Computers & Geotechnics, 6, 277-90, 1988), which has a rough membrane embedded in a granular layer, has been modified to include the prestressing effect in the geosynthetic reinforcement. Para- metric studies reveal that the settlement reductions within the loaded region are observed even for low prestress in the reinforcement. It is concluded that prestressing the geosynthetic reinforcement is a significant ground improvement technique to enhance the settlement characteristics of the soft soils where the membrane effect of reinforcement is felt. NOTATION Half width of strip footing (m) Shear modulus of granular fill below reinforcement (kN/m 2) Nondimensionalised shear parameter of granular fill below reinforcement Shear modulus of granular fill above reinforcement (kN/m 2) Nondimensionalised shear parameter of granular fill above reinforcement Thickness of granular fill above reinforcement (m) Thickness of granular fill below reinforcement (m) 531