Uniaxial compressive behavior of scrapped tire and sand-filled wire netted geocell with a geotextile envelope

Cellular structures are widely used in civil engineering. Their design is based on the understanding of the mechanical behavior of geocells. This paper investigates the response of a single geocell to a uniaxial compression test. The geocells were cubic, either 500 mm or 300 mm on a side. The fill materials were sand and scrapped tire and sand mixtures in different mass ratios. The envelope of the geocell was made up of a hexagonal wire netting cage and a containment geotextile. The response of the geocell is discussed based on the axial load and displacement measurements as well as the change in geocell volume.The axial load was found to be globally governed by the interaction between the fill material and the envelope, which depends on the shape of the wire mesh and the volumetric behavior of the fill material.