Geocells for Transportation Geotechnical Applications
- Vol.51(3), June
- Germany Springer 2021
- 612-623p.
Since their inception in early 70s, geocells have found numerous applications in civil engineering. One of the most important applications of geocells, which has created considerable impact in the field of reinforced soil structures, is their usage in various transportation geotechnical applications. Geocells are successfully being used for the reinforcement of road embankments, unpaved roads and creation of flexible retaining walls. This paper demonstrates the beneficial effects of geocells in all these applications through laboratory model studies. Embankments were built on soft clay with the support of a geocell layer, withstanding higher loads with lesser settlements. Geocell reinforcement in unpaved roads has significantly improved the cyclic load-bearing capacity and resilient modulus, improving the traffic benefit ratio and reducing the rutting. Geocell walls built with low-cost polymers could sustain severe earthquake conditions, without undergoing failure.