Geocells for the construction of embankments over soft marine clays

摘要

This paper studies the advantages of geocell reinforcement on the performance of earth embankments constructed over soft foundation soils through laboratory model tests. Soft clay bed was prepared in a steel tank and a layer of geocells was constructed on top of the clay bed. Embankment models were constructed above this layer. The influence of various parameters like tensile stiffness of geocell material, aspect ratio of cells, length of geocell layer and type of fill material inside the cells on the load-deformation behaviour of the embankment was studied. Geocell reinforcement was found to be advantageous in improving the load bearing capacity and reducing the deformations of the embankments. Based on the experiments, a methodology useful for the preliminary design of geocell supported embankments is suggested.