Effect of Geocell Reinforcement above Buried Pipes on Surface Settlement

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of geocell reinforcement on the soil surface settlement. A number of laboratory experiments were conducted using PVC pipes which were buried in medium sand layer and below a subbase layer reinforced with geocells. The model is subjected to dynamic repeated loading with different amplitudes (0.5 ton and 1 ton) and different loading frequencies (0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, 2 Hz) to study the effects of the of geocell reinforcement layer inclusion on the surface settlement. The results of the experimental work showed that the surface settlement increases with the increase of the load amplitude. The reduction of surface settlement due to the geocell reinforcement is about 29 to 43 % when the amplitude of load is 0.5 ton, and this value becomes 32 to 41 % when the amplitude of load is up to (1) ton. The surface settlement value increases proportionally with the increment of frequency amplitude for every tested model. When increasing the frequency of loading from 0.5 Hz to 2 Hz, the soil surface settlement value increased by 47 % for the models with no geocells and by 57 % for geocell reinforced models.