Limit State and Creep Behaviour of High-Density Polyethylene Geocell

A geocell, if fabricated from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), likely suffers from excessive deformation. The level of deformation is dependent on the load applied to the geocell and sections of the geocell the load acts on. Displacement-controlled tests were applied to sole sections of geocell, namely the cell wall, edge, and junctions. The tests consisted of wall elongating, edge tearing, and junction debonding. The tests were cell section-orientated, thus enabling identifying the most vulnerable part of the cellular system. The tests results comprised the tensile strength and creep behaviour of cell specimens. It was found that displacement rates affected the tensile strength and post-peak elongation at a level specific to the cell sections tested. The tensile strength of all sections of the geocell decreased with the displacement rate. The load magnitude affected the creep behaviour of the material and changed the time interval between the start of loading to a rupture. The creep behaviour was modelled numerically. Numerical simulations showed that stress concentration occurred at certain points on the geocell.