Abstract: The applicability of cohesive soils as the geocell fill material was investigated using laboratory load-bearing plate tests as the basis for the numerical analysis. The contribution of the geocell and the sand in the geocell-reinforced road base (where the sand is in the geocell backfill material) is also revealed by estimating the working condition of the sand replacement. The results of the evaluation show that the reinforcement effect of the geocell is weak from the point of view of the bearing capacity. The vertical deformation of the subgrade soil when a cohesive soil, which is consistent with the subgrade backfill material, is used as the geocell backfills, probably due to the poor nature of the filler itself. When sandy soils are used as geocell filling materials, the reinforcement performance is significantly improved. In addition, the reinforcement effect of the geocell on the subgrade is highly dependent on the deformation. The lateral limiting effect of geocells can only be fully mobilized if a sufficiently large lateral deformation occurs.

Key words: Geosynthetics, Geocells, Soil Reinforcement, Numerical Analysis