Experimental investigations on failure mechanism of different junction connections of geocells

The connection mode of junctions is crucial to the performance of geocells. The junction will be generally subjected to different directions of loading in the reinforced structure. However, there is a lack of detailed researches on the failure mechanism of the junctions under different loading models. Through the uniaxial tensile tests on the geocells with three junctions of welding, latching and riveting, the effects of connection modes on the performance of geocell strips are studied, and the failure modes and tensile strength of the junctions under different loading models are compared. The performance of different junction connections is evaluated by the indexes like "strip strength retention rate", "strip deformation retention rate", and "junction strength utilization rate". The results show that the welding junctions have the lower impact on coordination of tensile properties of HDPE geocell strips, which is 4.82%, while the riveting junctions have the higher impact on the coordination of PET geocell strips, which is 22.2%. The welding, riveting and latching junctions are mainly controlled by the peeling strength. However, the strength utilization rate of the welding junctions under peeling can reach 28.3%, which is 11.32 times and 6.58 times that of the latching and riveting ones, respectively, reflecting the performance advantages of the welding junctions. The strength of the latching junctions varies greatly under three loading models, and the measures like injection connection need to be taken to improve the strength of the junctions under shearing and peeling to balance the performance of the latching junctions. The test results can provide references for the reasonable selection of geocells and the study on reinforcement mechanism.