BEHAVIOR OF BAMBOO GEOCELLS UNDER COMPRESSION LOADING CONDITION SUSHOVAN DUTTA & JNANENDRA NATH MANDAL Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India ABSTRACT In the present study, laboratory experimental investigations has been carried out on bamboo made geocells to check its efficacy as alternative encasements. A series of unconfined compression tests were carried out on single bamboo geocells filled with stone aggregates by a strain controlled Universal Testing Machine. The circular perforated cells were prepared by using easily available well finished bamboo sticks of 10 mm width. Each cell was surrounded by a multifilament woven jute geotextile from inner side to prevent the infill material from escaping out of the perforated cell. Diameters of the bamboo cells were 75 and 100 mm with varying heights of 50, 100 and 200 mm. Bamboo geogrid was prepared by sticking the bamboo sticks with adhesive to evaluate its wide width tensile strength. Opening size of the bamboo geogrid was same as that of the bamboo geocells. From the experimental investigation, it was observed that the smaller diameter geocell exhibits higher compressive strength at a particular deformation before failure. Also, the compressive strength of geocell increases with decrease in the height of geocell. The failure pattern of bamboo geocell is also reported in this paper. KEYWORDS: Bamboo Geocell, Compressive Strength, Geogrid, Infill Material, Jute Geotextile, Opening Size INTRODUCTION Extensive research has been carried out on different types of geocell reinforcements. A practical construction procedure of geocell foundation mattress with basal geogrid reinforcement over soft foundation soil was reported by Bush et al. (1990). It was suggested to ensure that no cell was filled to full height before its adjacent cell was at least half filled to avoid potential distortion of the cell structure. Slip line field method was suggested for designing of geocells over thin foundation soil to support an embankment (Jenner et al., 1988). Many authors have carried out their research on geocell mattress over sand (Dash et al., 2001; Moghaddas Tafreshi and Dawson, 2010) and soft clay (Mahiskar and Mandal, 1996; Dash et al., 2003; Emersleben and Meyer, 2010), triaxial study using geocell (Bathurst & Karpurapu, 1993; Rajagopal et al., 1999) and performance of embankment over a geocell mattress underlying soft soil (Cowland and Wong, 1993; Madhavi Latha et al., 2006). The influencing parameters considered were mostly the shape, diameter, height, infill material, tensile stiffness of the cell material and width of mattress. From the available literature, it is evident that the extensive work has been carried out on different types of geocells. However, no attempt has been reported to prepare geocell with bamboo material. In the present study, an initiative has been taken to prepare the bamboo geocell by using locally available bamboo strips. Multifilament woven jute geotextile was used to wrap the cells from inner side to prevent escaping of the infill material. Stone aggregates were used as infill material. The unconfined compressive strength tests were carried out on single bamboo geocells. The effect of diameter and height on the compressive strength of bamboo geocell has been studied and presented in this paper. International Journal of Civil Engineering (IJCE) ISSN 2278-9987 Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2013, 123-128 © IASET