ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1554020
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advances in Soil ImprovementView all 3 articles
Simplified Design Method for Geocell-Stabilized Unpaved Roads on Weak Subgrade
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
- 2Stratum Logics Inc, St Albert, Canada
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Geocells have been successfully used to stabilize granular bases for unpaved roads over weak subgrade subjected to traffic loading. Unfortunately, no well-accepted design method is available in the literature. This paper presents the development of a simplified design method for this application by modifying the simplified design method available for the geogrid-stabilized bases over weak subgrade. This design method was calibrated based on the test results from the largescale cyclic plate loading tests and the moving wheel tests on geocell-stabilized granular bases over weak subgrade. The California Bearing Ratios of the subgrade and base course, the number loading cycles or wheel passes required for 50 to 75 mm rut, the height of geocell, and the thickness of the base course were the variables used for the calibration. The calibrated design method was used to verify the test results and yielded a good comparison. In addition, a design example is presented to illustrate how this method can be used in practice.
Keywords: aggregate base, Design, Geocell, Traffic loading, Unpaved road, Weak subgrade
Received: 31 Dec 2024; Accepted: 08 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Han and Pokharel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jie Han, University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
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