**5. Conclusions**

Polyolefin geocells can be considered an excellent reinforcement in the structures of the roads as long as they meet certain specifications, such as resistance to long-term deformation. For the geocells tested, the best performance was obtained by the Neoloy® composite material.

Taking into account the results of the laboratories, the increase factor of MIF modules is directly connected to creep resistance. When confinement is eventually lost due to large deformations in the geocells, the increase will be zero, and the behavior of the granular material belonging to the pavement structure will be the same as if it were not considered reinforced, decreasing its modulus, requiring a greater thickness to comply with the conditions of the structure.

All polymeric material that is exposed to weather, for greater resistance that it possesses, suffers the loss of properties. This could be evidenced when comparing tests with the same material and category, but with different time of exposure to the effects caused by nature (UV rays, air, water, etc.). A lesser deformation was displayed in the sample that had been under condition for a year.

The deformation behavior of HDPE exposed to high temperatures is low compared to Neoloy® material. For this reason, it could be determined that the HDPE geocells, although they have a regular behavior, cannot be located in the base layer of the pavement structures, since these could have temperatures as tested in the "SIM test" or higher, generating a double deformation. One of them would be due to time and the other due to temperature, leading to failure in a very short period of time.

To determine the MIF, it is necessary to know the resistance of the material of the geocell to the long-term deformation, since it is a vital part of achieving high performance, during the entire life of the structure of pavement reinforced with geocells.

The geocells, composed by Neoloy® with a resistance to the wide strip of 15 kN/m, are the most suitable to achieve a subgrade improvement. These geocells have the ability to be used in the granular layers adjacent to the asphalt folder, decreasing thicknesses. The use of these minimum aspects is recommended to guarantee the functionality, serviceability, and long-term operability of structures where geocells are involved.

**147**

**Author details**

Juan Carlos Ruge1

1 Catholic University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

\*Address all correspondence to: jcruge@ucatolica.edu.co

provided the original work is properly cited.

2 Fluent Business Group, Mexichem Colombia S.A.S, Bogota, Colombia

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Analysis of the Creep and the Influence on the Modulus Improvement Factor (MIF) in Polyolefin...*

\*, Julian Gonzalo Gomez1,2 and Carlos Andres Moreno2

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88518*

*Analysis of the Creep and the Influence on the Modulus Improvement Factor (MIF) in Polyolefin... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88518*
