Study on the Strength Characteristics of Geocell‐Reinforced Coarse‐Grained Soil

Abstract The traditional application of geocells is to place them in sandy or clay soils. However, considering the need for using coarse‐grained soils as embankment fill for highways, this article proposes placing geocells in coarse‐grained soils and conducting a series of unconfined compressive strength tests to study the stress‐strain behavior. Specimens for the laboratory test were prepared as cylinders with a height of 150mm and a diameter of 1500mm, compacted to 90%, 93%, and 93% respectively. Three types of planar geosynthetics commonly used for reinforcement ‐ biaxial geogrid, triaxial geogrid, and geotextile ‐ were selected for comparison with geocell in studying the strength characteristics improvement of geocell‐reinforced specimens when the moisture content is equal to 4%. Tests involved applying vertical pressure on the top of specimens until the strain reached 30%. The parameters analyzed included compaction levels and number of reinforced layers on the stress‐strain behavior of geocell‐reinforced coarse‐grained soils. Results indicate that three‐dimensional geocell significantly enhances reinforcement compared to planar geosynthetics. Compaction levels and number of geocell layers can enhance mechanical performance, with peak stress occurring when testing three layers of reinforced specimens.