Geocell design criteria for river protection projects

Abstract

The development of new ways of protecting riverbanks has evolved over time. At present, from the entire range of geosynthetics used as riverside protection works, the geocell stands out as an alternative that allows combining the established knowledge of river protections with traditional materials, to a hybrid form in which the polymer is mixed in a three-dimensional way, giving us the confinement effect, with the purpose of withstanding large deflections due to scour, high tractive resistance, and high flow velocities. For the hydraulic specialist, the lack of information on the key criteria to consider for a design with geocells for river protections, has limited their extended use. Currently there are general specifications from the Geosynthetic Institute, as well as ASTM Guides on geocells, so it is now possible to use standard or normalized Geocells for public and private works. This work presents research results and explains key concepts for the use of geocells for river protections, in order to covering the information gap in this regard. Examples of application and experiences of works already built with these criteria are presented for a complete transmission of the state of the art on this technique of geocells for hydraulic projects.