Geocell has three-dimensional (3D) honeycomb structure. Unlike planar reinforcements like geogrid and geotextile it offers 3D confinement to the infill soil. Modelling of complex honeycomb structure is very difficult. Instead of modelling exact shape, simplified shape of geocell gives the unrealistic results when compared with the experimental data. This paper mainly concentrates on the development of an exact model considering the honeycomb shape of geocell in plan. All the numerical analyses were performed using the 3D software FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua). Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model is used for the subgrade material and the infill material and the geocell is modelled using the inbuilt geogrid structural elements using the linear-elastic constitutive model. The geogrid element can support only tensile forces and not compressive forces. The results from the numerical study show good agreement when compared to the experimental results. From the results it is observed that the stress magnitude below the geocell is 30% of applied stress on the geocell surface. A plate load test is conducted in the laboratory to compare the numerical results with experimental data. Pressure-settlement responses predicted from numerical model follow closely with the experimental measurements.
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