Abstract. Rockfall protection embankments are ground levees designed to stop falling boulders. This paper investigates the behaviour of geocells to be used as components of these structures. Geocells, or cellular confinement systems, are composite structures associating a manufactured envelope with a granular geomaterial. Single cubic geocells were subjected to the impact resulting from dropping a spherical boulder. The geocells were filled with fine or coarse materials and different boundary conditions were applied on the lateral faces. The response is analysed in terms of the impact force and the force transmitted by the geocell to its rigid base. The influence on the geocell response of both the fill material and the cell boundary conditions is analysed. The aim was to identify the conditions resulting in greatest reduction of the transmitted force and also to provide data for the validation of a specific numerical model.