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It is well known that an ideal soil material for use in civil engineering applications is one that will compact
and still drain water freely. Unfortunately, the better a soil drains, the more difficult it is to compact. On the other hand, non compacted soils can be displaced by stress forces and are subject to
severe erosion by wind and water. For years, civil engineers have been aware that one way to achieve this ideal material is by confining a good draining soil. Confinement overcomes or eliminates the
problems associated with poor compacting soils. A confined material that contains high levels of sand or rock will drain, will support heavy loads without displacing, and will not be easily eroded by
forces of nature.
Although confining soil materials has many benefits, it is not always easy or inexpensive to accomplish. The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) experimented with a variety of methods that could be used to confine beach sand during an amphibious assault. Their solution was a product in which strips of plastic
were welded together into a rectangular panel, such that, when the panel was expanded, it would form a honeycomb structure that could be quickly installed and filled with sand by a small crew of
soldiers. The filled structure could support heavy loads such as tanks and trucks, yet not be washed away by wave action.
Today, this same concept is employed by civil engineers all over the world to confine onsite materials. The
generic name given to this product developed by the COE is geocell. The primary applications for geocell are:
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