What is the difference between Geogrid and Geocell?
For reinforcing roads, slopes, and embankments, the choice usually comes down between two main support materials: Geocells and Geogrids. What is the difference between geocell and geogrid? People often have a lot of doubts when selecting them. Today we will give you a detailed introduction, so that you can have a better understanding of the two materials, which is better for you to choose the most suitable material for your project.
What is Geocell?
Geocell is a kind of cellular confinement system, which is made from HDPE (high-density polyethylene) sheets through ultrasonic welding to a 3-dimensional network structure. During construction, the geocell can be easily stretched into a network, and the structure with large stiffness can be formed after filling in loose materials such as soil, gravel, and concrete.
What is GeoGrid?
Geogrid is a two-dimensional grid, which is made from polypropylene, polyester, or fiberglass. The production process could be stretched, woven, or knitted. Geogrids based on structural design are uniaxial, biaxial, or even triaxial. All offer excellent resistance, flexural rigidity, good load-bearing capacity, and excellent in-plane stiffness and aperture stability.
The Common Points of the Geocell and Geogrid:
1, Raw Material: They are both made from polymer composite materials.
2, Features: They both have the characteristics of high strength, strong bearing capacity, small deformation, small creep, corrosion resistance, large friction coefficient, long life, and convenient and quick construction.
3, Application: They are all used in areas such as roads, railways, bridge abutments, approach roads, docks, dams, slag yards, and other soft soil foundation reinforcement, retaining walls, and pavement crack resistance projects.
The Differences Between the Geocell and Geogrid:
1, Shape: The geocell is a deep, three-dimensional mesh structure, while the geogrid is typically two-dimensional. Geocells interlock to resemble a honeycomb-like structure. As the name suggests, geogrids resemble a tight grid.
2, Lateral Restriction and Stiffness: The 2D structure of geogrids makes them more flexible than geocells and ideal for use in instances where flexible top support or a separator is needed. A geogrid is a flatter, tighter structure that inhibits adjustability more so than a geocell.
3, Load-Bearing Capacity: The 3D structure and the vertical support of each cell give geocells superior load-bearing capacity. Geocells are less likely to bend, buckle, and sink into the subgrade over time. Furthermore, almost any infill material can be used with geocells. The relatively flat nature of geogrids restricts the type of infill you can use with this product.
4, Infill Material Restrictions: The 2D vs. 3D structure of geogrids and geocells has the largest impact on which infill materials you can reasonably expect to use. Of the two materials, geocells offer the ability to support a larger variety of infill materials. Geocells make it possible to use locally-available, cheap, and even poorly-graded and inferior aggregates. For instance, local native soils, quarry waste, and recycled materials can be used as infill.
What applications for Geocell vs Geogrid?
Geocell and Geogrid are not comparable in terms of reinforcement. Both of them have certain advantages and limitations. The project cost is the major factor before choosing alternative reinforcement materials.
The geocell will be used on both paved roads and unpaved roads, which can provide higher lateral confinement and beam effect, thus reducing the thickness of pavement significantly. For many geotechnical problems, savings in time and the assured performance of the solution play a more vital role than economical aspects. Since Geocell is a three-dimensional product it has major benefits over the geogrid in terms of confinement, it can be used as the slope protection from erosion caused by surface runoff.
Geogrids can reinforce shallow foundations by increasing the load-bearing capacity. Both uniaxial and bi-axial geogrids are used to stabilize the soil below a shallow foundation. Geogrids are easy to install and are ideal for such applications where the structural load is distributed between the foundation and the reinforcement layer.
Conclusion:
Geocells and geogrids look very different but have only marginally different characteristics. They both can be used for similar applications. A geotechnical engineer is the best person to determine which one of these two products is most suited for your project. The decision to use one and not the other depends on factors like the quality of the soil and how much load the reinforcement structure needs to withstand.
