Performance of different geosynthetic reinforcement materials in sand foundations

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.