EMBEDDING ROOT REINFORCEMENT USING VETIVER GRASS IN LATERITE SOIL

Soil bioengineering is an environmentally friendly method which employs vegetation to reinforce the soil. Vegetation is regarded as a new engineering material contributes to slope stability and reduces superficial soil erosion, both by soil shear reinforcement and influencing soil water content. The vegetation can contribute to slope stability in two ways, mechanical and hydrological. This paper demonstrates the effect of a vegetation root matrix on a soil slope and focuses on mechanical reinforcement using an example of vetiver grass. It is found that addition of root in the soil matrix not only improves the stability of the soil but also helps in various other parameters and hence its highly suggested that vetiver roots can also be used as soil reinforcing agents.