Large-scale triaxial compression tests of geocell-reinforced sand

A series of large-scale triaxial compression tests were performed on sandy soil confined by a circular geocell in this study. The effects of the relative density of the infill sand, the stiffness and strength of the geocell, and the aspect ratio (height-to-diameter ratio) of the specimen on the overall behavior of the geocell-soil composite were investigated. Furthermore, the measured confining pressure increment and apparent cohesion induced by the geocell membrane confinement were compared to those predicted by existing equations. The study results indicated that the end effects were very small in this experimental study. The effect of geocell stiffness on the stress-strain behavior of geocell-soil composites is closely related to the relative density of the soil. The measured confining pressure increments and the apparent cohesion are generally in good agreement with those predicted by Bathurst and Karpurapu's equations. The effect of the axial strain at failure on the apparent cohesion is discussed, and a method is proposed to determine the axial strain at failure for medium dense sand and dense infill sand on the basis of the hyperbolic nonlinear elastic model.