Bearing Capacity Improvement Using Geocell Reinforced Sand

Abstract

The numerous approaches are adopted to enhance the engineering properties of soil, by using various type of reinforcement. From the last 30 years, the main motive of using the reinforcements is to improve the load bearing capacity of sand and other weak soils. It is clearly described by various researchers. In this study numerical analysis was done using Plaxis 3D to validate and compare the results of an experimental work. Also studied the effect of two parameters such as u/B i.e. equal to 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and h/B ratio equal to 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 on bearing capacity of reinforced sand, these parameters are also observed with respect to the experiment research. It has been observed that the rise in load bearing capacity of reinforced sand starts decreasing after u/B = 0.50 and improvement of 447% is calculated at optimum depth 0.5B with 30 mm geocell cushion height under the strip footing. When geocell height was increased from 10 mm to 20 mm and 30 mm, the increase in bearing capacity was observed 16.2% and 25.2% (with relative increase) respectively. Study also highlights that the results of numerical and experimental studies are almost parallel with little variation, so the comparison is successfully done by Plaxis 3D software and results are in good agreement.