While deep foundation or ground improvement techniques are often used to construct in soft ground, they are often very costly. Past research has shown that geocell reinforcement increases the load carrying capacity of the foundation bed and is also cost-effective. However, very few studies have tested commercially available geocells such as NPA Geocell. In this study, NPA Geocell reinforced samples were compared with unreinforced samples in a laboratory model plate load test and a numerical simulation. Reinforcement with NPA Geocells was shown to increase load carrying capacity by 5 increments, increasing to 6 increments when a geogrid was added.

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