Modelling the deformation behaviour of an unsaturated soil reinforced with geocell for different freezing–thawing cycles

The use of centrifuge modelling for unsaturated soils is greatly constrained because of the well-known experimental complexities associated with unsaturated soil parameters consisting of suction, volume change, etc., that boom with inside the use of centrifuge modelling. To evaluate the effect of polymer as reinforcement in soil, model scale consequences have been investigated through engaging in centrifuge modelling of an unsaturated soil with temperature variation. For the study two different soil compositions were selected from two different states of India. The effects have been in comparison with unreinforced soil effects to decide the quantity of enhancement presented through reinforcement. The study examines the feasibility of physical modelling in the form of deformation in an unsaturated state. A scaling analysis is performed based on the settlement and time, as well as the velocity for different freezing–thawing cycles. It was found that polymer reinforcement contributes significantly towards the stability of an isolated footing because of surface characteristics at soil-reinforcement interface. Experimental studies on reinforced and unreinforced models revealed that the reinforcement was able to reduce the deformation by at least 86.88% for an expansive soil. The settlement values determined from the centrifuge run were high during the initial freezing–thawing cycles and it decreased rapidly with increase in cycles.