Abstract:In order to study the influence of the relative density of the foundation on the reinforced performance of geocells, the loading tests are carried out on the models with five different relative densities (30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70%) of geocell reinforced sand foundations and unreinforced sand foundations to study the bearing capacity settlement curves, bearing capacity improvement coefficients, roadbed deformation and subgrade settlement, and the distribution of reinforced tensile strain for the different relative densities of soil foundations. And the mechanism action of geocell reinforced sand foundation is analyzed. The results of the tests show that the reinforced geocell can effectively improve the rigidity, bearing capacity and load distributing level of the foundation in the wide range of relative density. The deformation rule of the filling surface and sand foundation show that the relative dimensions of the used model box and foundation can overcome the boundary effect so as to achieve the better test results.