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Granite
26
Hard limestone
26
Trachytes
25
Sandstone
23
Soft limestone
22
Tuff
17
When the density of filling material and voids ratio n are known, the unit mass of gabion structure is:
For easy calculation, the density of gabions g , related to the density of stone fills s may be found from the
curve Figure 1, for different values of n.
If the voids are partially filled with water, and u is the degree of saturation, the unit weight becomes:
nu
When the gabions are saturated with water, i.e. when u=1 the unit weight becomes:
When the gabions are under water, their weight is diminished by the uplift force acting on the stone filling:
the density of submerged gabions gw is therefore:
1
TECHNICAL NOTE
Ref: INT / TN _DT_022 - Rev. 01, Dec. 2013
Figure 1 - Density of gabions g related to different densities s of stone fill, for various values of n
D85/D15
Less than 1.5
M85/M15
1.7-2.7
Wide gradation
1.5-2.5
2.7-16
2.5-5.0
16-125+
For wide gradings, the phrase well graded merely implies that there are no significant gaps in material sizes
over the total width of the grading. Gap-graded material may occur naturally, or can result when two quite
different single-sized products have been blended.
Determination of the gradation of the granular material is important for the following reason:
the packing and the void porosity of bulk-placed materials is highly dependent on the overall slope
of the grading curve: for higher values of D85/D15 the corresponding value of n will be smaller
wider gradings will tend to segregate during bulk handling and stockpiling; limiting the grading width
can control this.
TECHNICAL NOTE
Ref: INT / TN _DT_022 - Rev. 01, Dec. 2013
Conclusions
The unit weight of gabions is influenced from the void ratio in addition to the geological characteristic of the
single rock. To correctly estimate the void index n its important to evaluate these following items:
1. Granulometric curve: the ratio D85/D15 of the gabions filling material is greater than 1.5.
D /D
1.5
If the value of the ratio is greater than 1.5, which is the typical case of stone filling for gabions, the
filling material can be assumed to be well graded
2. Installation method: to achieve the appropriate voids ratio n, its important to assure the correct
placement of the filling material in the gabions which has to made in compliance of the Maccaferri
Installation Guidelines.
When both conditions are assured (see figure 3), the voids ratio n to be assumed in the design of
gabions becomes:
Legend
n=
u=
s =
g =
gw =
Porosity: ratio between the volume of voids and the total volume of the soil.
Degree of saturation: percentage of the volume of voids filled with water.
Density of the stone fill.
Density of the gabions.
Density of submerged gabions