Interaction Between Hoop Stresses and Passive Earth Resistance in Single and Multiple Geocell Structures

ABSTRACT Geocell structures consist of a series of interconnected single cells, made from different polymer materials. The cell walls completely encase the infill material and provide an all-around confinement to the soil. The confinement effect is based on three main mechanisms: active earth pressure within loaded cell, passive earth resistance in the adjacent cells and hoop stresses in the cell walls. To evaluate the interaction between hoop stresses and passive earth resistance radial load tests on single and multiple geocell structures were carried out. Geocell materials with different stiffness and different numbers of interconnected geocells were tested. The tests results have shown that the stiffness of the geocell material and the numbers of adjacent cells are the most important parameters for the confinement effect

The influence of hoop stresses and earth resistance on the reinforcement mechanism of single and multiple geocells

ABSTRACT: Geocell structures consist of a series of interconnected single cells, made from different polymer materials. The cell walls completely encase the infill material and provide an all-around confinement to the soil. The confinement effect is based on three main mechanisms: active earth pressure within loaded cell, earth resistance in the adjacent cells and hoop stresses in the cell walls. To evaluate the influence of different parameters e.g. geocell stiffness, number of interconnected cells, geocell height and soil cover height on the interaction mechanism between hoop stresses and earth resistance static radial load tests were carried out. The test results have shown that the stiffness of the geocell material and the number of adjacent cells are the most important parameters. The test concept and the test results are presented in the paper