Abstract: A series of model tests were carried out on pure sand foundation and reinforced foundation with high-strength geocells to research the influences of single layer reinforcement depth, welded spacing and foundation soil compaction on the bearing capacity and deformation of the foundation. Furthermore, the reinforcement mechanism was summarized according to the distribution of tensile strain of geocell, additional stress under the reinforcement layer and the ultimate failure state of geocell and foundation. Results showed that geocell reinforcement could more than treble the bearing capacity of pure sand foundation, reduce the foundation settlement and improve the deformation resistance of geocell-reinforced layer. The effect of reinforcement increased with the decrease of geocell depth, welded spacing and the increase of foundation’s compaction. The influence of sand compaction was the largest, followed by geocell depth and welded spacing. The geocell of high strength in the middle played the most important role in reducing stress in the foundation soil and spread the stress to a larger scale by using its high tensile strength.

Key words: high-strength geocell, reinforced foundation, bearing capacity, tensile strain, stress spread