Geocellular confinement systems in low-volume paved roads

Abstract

Geocellular confinement systems (geocells), three-dimensional honeycomb-like structures containing an infill of available materials such as sand or crushed limestone, vastly improve shear strength of infill materials. Geocells are potential solutions for challenges associated with low-volume paved road reconstruction. The objectives of this study were to test geocell designs with various infill materials and a thin hot-mix asphalt overlay under full-scale traffic load and to numerically model this problem. Therefore, eight pavement test sections were constructed at the Civil Infrastructure System Laboratory at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. Repeated loads (80-kN, single axle) were applied to the pavement sections using an accelerated pavement testing machine till failure. Pavement sections were modeled three-dimensionally using Abaqus, a commercially available finite element software package. Effects of geocell height and location were simulated in the geocell-reinforced bases, and pavement structures were modeled as three-layered systems. Results showed that proper geocell height, infill material and cover depth to protect the geocells during construction are necessary to ensure long-term performance of geocell-reinforced pavements. Such pavement structures with low- quality infill materials can perform as well as conventionally-constructed pavement structures.