Cellular Geosynthetics in Transportation Applications

Cellular geosynthetics is the generic term for geosynthetic materials and products with either a closed- or open-cell texture. This includes the product categories of geofoams and geocombs that are the focus of this paper. Cellular geosynthetics have begun to have a noticeable impact in engineered construction, especially transportation applications. This is because they offer a wide range of geosynthetic functions that, with few exceptions, are unavailable from traditional planar geosynthetics such as geogrids, geomembranes and geotextiles. This paper summarizes the geofoam and geocomb materials and products that are available currently, and highlights their functions and typical applications on transportation-related projects with an emphasis on new trends and developments.