Interference Effect of Geocell-Reinforced Shallow Strip Foundations on Sandy Soil

This paper discusses the results of laboratory model tests on interfering shallow strip foundations, investigating both unreinforced and geocell-reinforced configurations. The tests cover a spectrum of spacing ratios, defined as the ratio of the center-to-center distance between two foundations to the width of the strip foundation, ranging from 1 to 5 under varying relative densities of sandy soil. The results revealed that, depending on both the relative density and the spacing ratio, the ultimate bearing capacity increased significantly, ranging from 4.8 to 8.4 times with the introduction of geocell reinforcement and the interference effect of strip foundations compared with that of unreinforced single foundation. The optimum spacing ratio for achieving the maximum ultimate bearing capacity was 1.5 for both unreinforced loose and dense sand, as well as for geocell-reinforced dense sand. However, this ratio was 2 for geocell-reinforced loose sand. The interference effect nearly disappeared at a spacing ratio of 5 for both unreinforced and geocell-reinforced conditions. Furthermore, the extent of the settlement patterns on the ground surface was most pronounced for both geocell-reinforced loose and dense sands at the optimum spacing ratio.