Numerical Modelling of Static Triaxial Behaviour of Geocell Reinforced Sand

Geocells are three-dimensional geosynthetics that consist of interconnected cells filled with soil. Reinforcing the soil with geocells improves the soil properties through friction, interlocking, and confinement. Many experimental studies were conducted to quantify the beneficial effects of geocell reinforcement in enhancing the stiffness and strength properties of the soil. However, not many numerical studies are available to understand the behaviour of geocell reinforced sand in triaxial compression. Due to the complexities involved in modelling the actual honeycomb shape of the geocell, most of the previous numerical studies were either conducted using Equivalent Composite Approach (ECA) or by approximating the actual shape of the geocells to simpler shapes like square, diamond or circular shape. FLAC^3D was used to carry out numerical analyses in the current study. Triaxial compression tests on a cylindrical sample of unreinforced sand and sand reinforced with honeycomb-shaped geocells are simulated by implementing the actual shape of geocells. The parametric analysis was carried out on the validated numerical model to understand the effects of confining pressure, geocell diameter, modulus of the geocell material on stress–strain response of the geocell-reinforced sand.