Innovative Cellular Confinement Systems for Retaining Walls

In this study, new innovative geocells were created using recyclable polyvinylchloride (PVC) sheets by simple lamination. These geocells were used as facing of retaining wall models for laboratory shaking table tests. These geocells were honey-comb shaped and the pocket-size of the geocells was maintained as 100 mm. To understand the performance of the geocell walls to seismic shaking conditions, shaking table tests were carried out on retaining wall models created using new geocells and geocells made out of HDPE nets. Geocells were filled with sand or gravel in different tests. These geocell walls were subjected to different levels of seismic shaking by varying the acceleration and frequency of the shaking. Performance of the walls was monitored in terms of wall deformations and accelerations at different elevations. Similitude laws were used to correlate the model tests to field scale retaining walls. Comparison of results with HDPE geocells and PVC geocells showed that the newly created geocells are strong enough to sustain high seismic accelerations without getting damaged. It was the confinement effect created by the geocells, that is responsible for the performance of the geocells and the confinement effect is not too sensitive to the tensile strength of the geocell material, as observed from the tests.