Experimental Response of Reinforced Wall with Bamboo Geocell and GBFS as Reinforced Fill Material

The development of road networks plays a very vital role in the progress of a nation. The development of road networks includes construction of pavements, bridges, embankments, flyovers etc. Retaining wall is a part of flyovers and embankments. These retaining walls are generally developed as reinforced walls due to lower cost, simple construction, and the ability to undergo deformations without getting damaged. Due to the increasing popularity and advantages, present research is focused on evaluating the performance of reinforced wall utilizing Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) as reinforced fill with bamboo geocell reinforcement. A characterization study was carried out on the procured GBFS sample which included X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Particle Size Distribution (PSD). Bamboo strips derived from the stem were used to form geocell. These geocells were joined with polymer tags to form bamboo geocell mattress. To evaluate the effect of GBFS as reinforced fill and bamboo geocell mattress as reinforcement in the retaining wall, a setup consisting of tank, retaining wall, loading frame, load cell and data acquisition system was developed. The reinforced wall also included EPS geofoam on the rear side. Five different models were developed using mattresses having different dimensions of bamboo geocell. Model one was unreinforced and was named as UREPS and the rest of the models were reinforced with bamboo geocell mattress. The results showed that utilizing the bamboo geocell mattress as a reinforcement had improved the performance of reinforced wall. It was also revealed that, GBFS had potential to substitute sand as a reinforced fill material. Therefore, GBFS and bamboo geocell mattress can be used as a suitable substitute to the existing conventional materials used in reinforced wall.