Abstract:

Working mechanism of the geocell reinforcement was discussed. Based on the deformation responses under the load, the geocell reinforcement was treated as a beam on Winkler foundation while analyzing. Then the theory of beam on elastic foundation was employed to propose the deformation control differential equation, which could consider the effect of the horizontal resistance between the geocell reinforcement and the foundation soil; and a power series solution for this equation was given. And then a deformation calculating method for the geocell reinforcement under the point load was proposed, which was a beneficial result to study the settlement calculation of road embankment reinforced by geocell. Finally, to verify this method, a model test was employed. The comparative analysis result shows that the value of the vertical deformation of the geocell reinforcement will be exaggerated if the effect of the horizontal resistance is neglected; but while this effect was considered in analyzing, the theoretical curve is much closer to the measured value.

Key words: soft ground, geocell reinforcement, deformation calculation, Winkler foundation model, horizontal resistance