Different geosynthetics and soil improvement methods are designed for different engineering functions. Some separate soil layers, some reinforce aggregate, some provide temporary access, and others chemically modify the soil.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells are designed to create a 3D mechanically stabilized layer. The system confines infill, improves load distribution, helps control deformation, and can reduce reliance on imported aggregate, chemical treatment, and high-maintenance temporary solutions.
2D planar reinforcement and aggregate interlock (tension membrane effect).
Earth reinforcement and granular layer improvement.
Requires high-quality crushed stones, required for interlocking.
Provides 3D confinement and reduce dependence on imported aggregate.
Separation, filtration, drainage, and protection.
Preventing layer mixing, managing water, and providing protection.
Limited structural load-support capacity when used alone.
Adds mechanical confinement and load distribution while maintaining efficient drainage.
Soil property modification through cement, lime, or binders.
Soil improvement where chemistry and moisture conditions are suitable.
High CO₂ emissions, curing time, quality-control risks, chemical leaching concerns, and cracking over dynamic loads.
Provides mechanical stabilization without chemical modification or curing, reducing CO2
Temporary surface access.
Construction access over weak or wet ground.
Does not improve the subgrade and often requires repositioning.
Creates a permanent or semi-permanent stabilized layer.
Retaining, drainage, and erosion-control structures.
Riverbanks, channels, retaining walls, and slope facing.
Heavy rock handling, visible structure, corrosion risk, and high transport impact.
Provides lighter buried stabilization and load support for slopes, roads, and platforms.
Key difference: geotextiles separate and filter. Neoloy® Tough-Cells confine and stabilize.
Geotextiles are valuable for separation, filtration, drainage, and protection. They help prevent soil layers from mixing and can improve drainage behavior. However, when used alone, they usually do not provide the mechanical confinement or load distribution required for heavy-duty infrastructure.
Geotextiles are often complementary to Neoloy® Tough-Cells. A geotextile can separate layers, while Neoloy® Tough-Cells provide structural stabilization.
Key difference: chemical stabilization changes the soil. Neoloy® Tough-Cells mechanically stabilize the layer.
Chemical stabilization with cement, lime, or other binders can improve soil properties when soil chemistry, moisture, mixing quality, and curing conditions are suitable. However, it can introduce project risks such as high CO2 emissions, water demand, quality-control challenges, curing time, and potential chemical leaching or contamination concerns.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells mechanically confine the infill without relying on chemical reactions, curing, or soil chemistry compatibility. This can be valuable in environmentally sensitive projects, remote sites, and applications where the surface can remain green or vegetated.
Key difference: access mats create temporary surface access. Neoloy® Tough-Cells create stabilized ground infrastructure.
Access mats are useful for temporary movement of vehicles and equipment over weak or wet ground. However, they do not improve the subgrade. They sit above the weak soil rather than stabilizing it.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells are installed into the ground structure and filled with compacted infill. This creates a permanent or semi-permanent stabilized layer for long-term access, platforms, and infrastructure loads.
Key difference: gabions are visible retaining and erosion-control structures. Neoloy® Tough-Cells are buried stabilization and load-support systems.
Gabions are effective where a heavy rock-filled retaining, drainage, or erosion-control structure is needed. However, they require large quantities of rock, steel mesh, transport, labor-intensive installation, and long-term consideration of corrosion or wire damage.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells are lighter, easier to transport, and installed as a cellular confinement layer filled with soil, aggregate, or approved infill. They can support slopes, embankments, roads, and platforms where the goal is stabilization rather than a visible retaining structure.
Key difference: geogrids provide 2D planar reinforcement. Neoloy® Tough-Cells provide 3D cellular confinement.
Geogrids improve reinforced soil performance through aggregate interlock, and tension membrane effects. Their performance depends on aggregate quality, aperture geometry, rib stiffness, junction strength, and correct placement.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells work through vertical and lateral confinement of the infill. The confined layer distribute stresses over a wider area and creates a stiffer reinforced structure. For load-support applications, this mechanism reduce deformation, improve bearing capacity, and support weak or variable subgrades.
For engineers, the comparison is not only about product shape. It is about the reinforcement mechanism required by the design.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells add value when the project requires:
Geogrids may remain relevant when planar reinforcement, aggregate interlock, and tensile restraint meet the design requirements.
Neoloy® Tough-Cells do not always replace geogrids. In some demanding designs, engineers can combine Neoloy, geogrids, and geotextiles to create a hybrid geosynthetic solution.
In this type of system, the geogrid contributes planar reinforcement and aggregate interlock, while Neoloy® Tough-Cells provide 3D confinement, improved stiffness, wider stress distribution, and a slab-like reinforcement effect. This approach is suitable for very soft and expansive subgrades, extreme loads, limited construction windows, or projects where excavation and aggregate volume must be reduced.
At the Compressor Station B2 Pad, Canada, the project required a stable support pad over soft silty clay, with design loads that included heavy trailers, equipment, and crawler crane operations. The constructed section used two layers of Tough-Cell, geotextiles, and a biaxial geogrid layer.
The hybrid design helped eliminate soft soil excavation, reduce granular fill volume, enable winter construction, and support the required loads. [Read more about this case study]
Achievements:
Choosing the right solution depends on soil conditions, load requirements, design life, infill availability, environmental sensitivity, installation constraints, and lifecycle cost. PRS can help determine whether Neoloy® Tough-Cells should be used alone or together with geotextiles, geogrids, drainage layers, or other stabilization methods.