Experimental and numerical investigation on the behavior of strip footing on geocell reinforced sand

Abstract

Geosynthetic reinforcements have become increasingly popular in the last few years for usage in a variety of infrastructure projects because of their advantageous properties. One kind of geosynthetic that is produced as three-dimensional interconnected cells is called geocell. It can be used as a reinforcement to enhance base course behavior by offering lateral confinement, which increases the base course's stiffness and strength while lowering surface permanent deformation. Therefore, this research aims to study the behavior of strip footing rested on a geocell reinforced sand bed experimentally and numerically. In this research, a single geocell, filled with sand, was exposed to a vertical load until reaching failure. The testing process was modeled through the use of PLAXIS 3D numerical software. The effects of using a geocell as a reinforcement on load-bearing capacity and settlement at variable parameters, such as depth of placement, height, and length of reinforcement under axial compression load were studied. The results indicate that using geocell as soil reinforcement leads to a noticeable improvement in the bearing capacity and settlement response of the soil. The recommended geocell layer height, length, and placement depth that give the maximum bearing capacity improvement are presented and discussed. The effect of using geocell as soil reinforcement on the ultimate bearing capacity is estimated by bearing capacity ratio (BCR) and modulus of subgrade reaction (ks).