Performance of different geosynthetic reinforcement materials in sand foundations

TLDR

The study investigates the relative performance of geocell, planar, and randomly distributed mesh reinforcements in sand beds under strip loading through laboratory model tests. Laboratory strip‑loading tests were conducted on sand beds reinforced with geocell, planar, and randomly distributed mesh elements to evaluate their behavior. Geocell reinforcement proved most effective, with no failure up to a settlement of about 45 % of footing width and loads eight times the unreinforced soil’s ultimate capacity, whereas planar and mesh reinforcements failed at settlements of roughly 15 % and 10 % and loads of about four and 1.8 times the ultimate capacity, respectively.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests carried out to study the relative performance of different forms of reinforcement (i.e. geocell, planar and randomly distributed mesh elements) in sand beds under strip loading. The results demonstrate that geocell reinforcement is the most advantageous soil reinforcement technique of those investigated. With the provision of geocell reinforcement, failure was not observed even at a settlement equal to about 45% of the footing width and a load as high as eight times the ultimate capacity of the unreinforced soil, whereas, with planar reinforcement, failure took place at a settlement of about 15% of the footing width and a load of about four times the ultimate capacity of the unreinforced soil. For the case with randomly distributed reinforcement mesh, failure was recorded at a load of about 1.8 times the ultimate capacity of the unreinforced soil and at a settlement of about 10% of the footing width.