ABSTRACT
In this study, the confinement effects of geocells were investigated using medium-scale direct shear tests. The shear box had a transparent sidewall to view the soil deformation in the box, and the soil strain localization behavior was visualized using particle image velocimetry. In a series of tests, the interface shear strength between geocell-reinforced and unreinforced soil was investigated and compared with the soil shear strength. The test results showed evidence that the interface shear resistance is higher than the soil shear strength because the geocell confines soil shear and volumetric deformation. Moreover, a simple empirical formulation of the interface shear resistance was proposed based on the Taylor-Bishop energy correction formula.
