Lecture 26

GEOSYNTHETICS ENGINEERING: IN
THEORY AND PRACTICE
Prof. J. N. Mandal
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay,

Powai , Mumbai 400076, India.
Tel.022-25767328
email: cejnm@civil.iitb.ac.in
Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Module - 6
LECTURE - 26
Geosynthetics for reinforced soil retaining walls

OUTLINE
Part - I Mechanically stabilized reinforced soil retaining
walls with modular blocks or panel facings
Introductions
Geosynthetic reinforced soil wall system
Different precast concrete modular blocks or panel
facings and connections
Analysis and design procedures for geosynthetics
reinforced soil retaining wall
Cost considerations
Construction procedure for precast concrete faced walls
Submission of material and test report by manufacturer
Design critique
Failures of structures
Tolerances
Part II Geotextile or geogrid wrap-around-faced
mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls
General
Design of geotextile wrap-around-faced wall
Wraparound face construction details
Part III Gabion walls

General
Gravity gabion wall design
Reinforced soil gabion wall design
Feasibility Study on Fly Ash as a Backfill Material
Geocell walls
Part I
Mechanically stabilized segmental reinforced soil

retaining wall

Basic concepts
Soil mechanics Interaction Polymer properties
Applications
Soft soil applications Reinforced fill applications
Unpaved roads Embankments Steep slops Retaining walls
(Short term reinforcement strength required) (Long term reinforcement strength required)

Different types of conventional rigid retaining structures
made up of masonry and concrete are available to resist
the lateral pressures:
Gravity retaining walls,

Semi-gravity type retaining wall
Cantilever retaining walls,
Counter fort retaining walls and
Bridge and abutment.
Anchored Sheet Pile
Soil Nailing
Braced Excavation

Gravity wall Semi-gravity wall
Cantilever wall Counter-fort wall

Bridge and abutment Anchored Sheet pile
Soil Nailing Braced Excavation

Inclusion of reinforcements in soil is not new. It has been
used since biblical age. The concept of reinforced earth
system is well established.
Vidal (1966) (Lee et al., 1973)
Components parts and key dimensions of reinforced

earth wall
The traditional concrete and masonry gravity walls or
cantilever retaining walls are almost obsolete due to higher
cost of construction.
Reinforced soil wall is the best cost effective solution.

Metallic strips or geosynthetics can be used as
reinforcement. Geosynthetic is an emerging bona-fide
engineering construction material around the world.
The mild steel degrades due to electro-chemical

corrosion whereas, the polymer materials suffer from creep
problem causing reduction in the ultimate tensile strength.
Therefore, adequate factor of safety should be

considered to meet the serviceability limits.
There are many disadvantages of using metallic strips in
the mechanically stabilized reinforced earth wall,
High Cost
Long term susceptibility to corrosion. Protective coating

can reduce corrosion, but it is uncertain in the field due to
ground water or electric current.
Sustainability depends on the correct choice of Backfill

material ( i.e. gradation, chemical properties etc.)
It cannot be used with many indigenous materials.
Back fill material cost is about 85% of the total cost of the
Reinforced Soil Wall.
Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Wall System
Advantages:
Polymer do not corrode

Economical
Used with many indigenous materials
More deformable than the metal reinforcement
Long term durability
The geosynthetic is flexible
Unskilled labour can place it
Minimum excavation
Good drainage
Heavy equipment is not needed
Superimposed (Tiered) Uneven reinforcement wall
walls
(After FHWA-NHI-10-024,2009)

- Overall base width is
large
SM 0.5 H
- Overlapping of
reinforcement
L0 > 0.3 H
LR/H = LL/H 0.6
Back-to-back walls
Stable feature walls
Influence of surcharge for tiered walls
(After Simac, 1990)
Water front structure
In the past 40 years, a tremendous number of
geosynthetic reinforced soil walls have economically been
constructed around the world. The geosynthetics
reinforcements are placed horizontally in the retaining wall
backfill.
Geosynthetics reinforced soil mass are basically gravity

structures resisting the earth pressure developed behind
the reinforced soil zone. The facia resists the mass of
reinforced soil, retained soil and the surcharge loads.
Geosynthetics reinforced soil walls are flexible.

Therefore, it can tolerate larger settlements and earthquake
loading than the conventional retaining walls. The ground
improvement can also be avoided.
Components of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls
Major components of reinforced soil system:
Foundation soil
It is required to improve the foundation soil by introducing
reinforcement layers, geocells, prefabricated vertical band
drains or encased stone columns. Check the factor of safety
against bearing capacity failure.
Reinforced soil
The reinforced soil is the combination of soil and the
horizontal layers of geotextiles or geogrids. It is preferable to
use CEG < 30 mm mol/ kg and molecular weight > 25,000
gm/mol for good quality PET resin.
Backfill
The backfill soil is located behind the reinforced soil zone.
Drainage fill
Face drain behind the wall facia.
Blanket drain beneath the reinforced soil zone,
Back (chimney) drain behind the reinforced soil zone
To prevent build up of hydrostatic pressure. The drainage
outlet must be connected to the collection pipe.
Polymeric geogrids or geotextiles
Polymer geogrids and polyester strips, both flexible and
stiff, are usually used as horizontal layers.
Geocomposite reinforcement or hybrid reinforcement
Geotextiles (woven and nonwoven) are also used in
wrap-around faced mechanically stabilized earth walls.
Facia
The facings have aesthetic views and can be of any
shape and colours.
Wrap-around facings
Segmental precast concrete panels
Full-height concrete panels
Modular block wall
Gabion facings
Timber facing
Welded wire meshes facing
Gunny bag facing
Brick facing
Warp- around facing
Vertical spacing of reinforcements = 0.3 m - 0.5 m
It is required to protect the geotextile against ultraviolet

light, degradation, vandalism and damage due to fire. In
such case, shotcrete should be applied to the wall facing.
Segmental precast concrete panels
HDPE geogrids are casted into the panels during
manufacturing process in the field. The main geogrid is
then connected to the HDPE geogrid (bodkin joint) about
30 cm away from the facing panel.
The flexible polyester geogrid should not be casted due

to high alkalinity in presence of wet concrete.
Three types of Precast concrete face panels:
Hexagonal shaped panel:
1.5 m height, 1.75 m width and 0.165 m thick
Rectangular panel:
3.81 m long, 0.61 m height and 0.2 m thick
T shaped panel:
3.2 m area and 0.16 m thick

Bodkin connection details
A rigid PVC pipe is used as bodkin. There should not be

any slack in the connection.

Full-height concrete panels
The full height concrete panels are 12.5 cm - 30 cm thick,
240 cm - 300 cm wide and 750 cm high.
Stiff polyethylene geogrids are casted into the panel
similar to segmental precast concrete panels.
The minimum compressive strength of concrete at 28
days is 27.56 Mpa.
Modular concrete block wall (MCBW)
Length = 200 mm - 600 mm

Height = 100 mm - 200 mm
Width = 200 mm - 0.6 m.
The weight of dry casting MBW = 15 kg to 50 kg
Gabion facing wall
The gabion is a kind of basket made up of galvanized
mild steel wire mesh and polymer geogrids filled with
rocks/stones.

Timber facing Welded wire mesh facing
Gunny bag facing Brick facing wall

DIFFERENT PRECAST CONCRETE MODULAR
BLOCKS OR PANEL FACINGS AND CONNECTIONS
Modular concrete blocks for segmental retaining walls

(After Bathurst and Simac, 1994)
Shear Pin Shear Key
Leading shear lip

Geogrids connected with modular blocks either mechanically
or by friction (After Simac et al. 1993)
(a) Frictional connection and (b) Mechanical connection
Details of frictional connection between geogrid and
segmental panel
Construction Details

Wall Construction

General view on Wall During Construction

Placing Facing Blocks

Wall Ties Fixing False Facing

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN PROCEDURES FOR
GEOSYNTHETICS REINFORCED SOIL RETAINING WALL
Geosynthetic reinforced soil wall with inclined surcharge load

Schematic view of segmental reinforced soil retaining wall
HM = Mechanical height, HF = Facing height,

HD = Design height
Step 1: Physical characteristics of mechanically
stabilized soil walls.
Wall geometry:
The height of wall = H,
The length of wall = L,
Wall face batter angle = ,
The wall requires a nominal batter of 3 to 10
Slope angle of the soil surface = i,
Loading:
Surcharge loads:
Live load = qL
Dead load = qD
Total surcharge (q) = qL + qD
Type of facing
Full-height concrete panels,
Wrapped facings,
Modular or Segmental concrete blocks.
Gabion
Vertical spacing of reinforcements (Sv)
Wrapping:
Maximum spacing (Sv) is 0.5 m to 0.6 m for geotextile
(woven and non-woven) or geogrid wrapped face walls.
Precast concrete face panels:

The spacing of the geogrid reinforcement may be kept
from 0.5 m to 1 m. However it is recommended to keep
the vertical spacing of reinforcement as 0.6 m - 0.8 m.
Modular block:
- For the modular concrete block of height 200 mm to 250
mm, the spacing of the reinforcement may be 200 mm,
400 mm, 500 mm, 600 mm, 750mm, 800 mm and 1 m.
- For segmental concrete block, if the spacing is more,

use secondary reinforcement.
Vertical spacing of the reinforcement depends on the
strength of the reinforcement, facing connection and types
of panels or blocks used for construction.

Establish preliminary wall dimensions
a) Minimum length of reinforcement

(FHWA NHI-10-024, 2009)
Case Minimum L/H ratio
Static loading without or with
0.7
traffic surcharge
Sloping backfill surcharge 0.8
Seismic loading 0.8 to 1.1
b) For walls founded on slopes, a minimum horizontal
bench of 1.2 m wide should be given in front of wall.
Minimum embedment depth should be 0.5 m.
Minimum 1 m embedment length is recommended
beyond Rankine failure wedge for pullout resistance.
Step 2: Evaluate engineering properties of the
foundation soil.
Detailed soil exploration has to be carried out along

the alignment of the reinforced soil wall at every 25 m
interval.
Evaluate grain size distribution, moisture content,

liquid limit, plastic limit, shrinkage limit and plasticity
index of soil.
Calculate the shear strength and consolidation

parameters of foundation soil. Check the location of
ground water table.
Step 3: Evaluate reinforced fill and retained backfill soil.
Check the grain size distribution and plasticity index.
Plasticity index should not exceed 6 (AASHTO T-90)
Coefficient of uniformity of reinforced fill 2.
Organic content should be limited to 5 %.
Determine optimum moisture content (OMC), maximum

dry density or relative density with the aid of standard
proctor test.
The minimum compaction of backfill soil should be 90%
of maximum proctor density.
Internal friction angle (r) of the soil in reinforced zone
can be determined from the drained direct shear test.
For retained backfill, the internal friction angle (b) can
be determined by drained triaxial compression test or
direct shear test.
Generally, angle of internal friction 34.
Coefficient of permeability should be 1 x 10-2 cm/sec
No cohesion should be considered, i.e. fine silts and clay
should not be used for reinforced fill.
Appropriate drainage system is required at the back,
base and front of reinforced soil retaining walls.
If the quality of backfill is poor, the adequate drainage
can not be achieved (Saidin, 2007).
For polyester geosynthetic, pH value of soil should lie
between 3 and 9 (Elias and Christopher, 1997)
For polyethylene and polypropylene, pH of soil > 3

(AASHTO T-289-91).
Minimum aperture size of geogrid > 3.5 times the

particle size of the backfill soil (Sarsby, 1985)
In many cases, we use the minimum average roll

values (MARV) obtained from the manufacturers
certificate.
For good design, it is recommended to verify the test
results of geosynthetic materials from the third party.
Gradation of backfill soil for reinforced soil zone(Walls
and slopes)(After Koerner et al.1993,GSI/GRI)
Sieve Size Particle Percent

Number Size Passing
# 4 4.76 mm 100
10 2.0 90-100
40 0.42 0-60
100 0.15 0-5
200 0.075 0
Notes: FHWA adopts15% passing #200 sieve

NCMA adopts 35% passing #200 sieve
Creep reduction factor for polymer
(FHWA NHI-10-024, 2009)
Polymer type Creep reduction factors

Polyester (PET) 2.5 to 1.6
Polypropylene (PP) 5.0 to 4.0
High Density
5.0 to2.6
Polyethlene (HDPE)

Please let us hear from you
Any question?

Prof. J. N. Mandal
Department of civil engineering, IIT Bombay,
Powai , Mumbai 400076, India.
Tel.022-25767328
email: cejnm@civil.iitb.ac.in

Lecture 26

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Lecture 26

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

GEOSYNTHETICS ENGINEERING: IN

THEORY AND PRACTICE

Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay,

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Part III Gabion walls

Mechanically stabilized segmental reinforced soil

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Soil mechanics Interaction Polymer properties

Soft soil applications Reinforced fill applications

Unpaved roads Embankments Steep slops Retaining walls

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Gravity retaining walls,

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Cantilever wall Counter-fort wall

Soil Nailing Braced Excavation

Vidal (1966) (Lee et al., 1973)

Components parts and key dimensions of reinforced

Reinforced soil wall is the best cost effective solution.

The mild steel degrades due to electro-chemical

Therefore, adequate factor of safety should be

Long term susceptibility to corrosion. Protective coating

Sustainability depends on the correct choice of Backfill

It cannot be used with many indigenous materials.

Polymer do not corrode

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Geosynthetics reinforced soil mass are basically gravity

Geosynthetics reinforced soil walls are flexible.

It is required to protect the geotextile against ultraviolet

The flexible polyester geogrid should not be casted due

Hexagonal shaped panel:

1.5 m height, 1.75 m width and 0.165 m thick

3.81 m long, 0.61 m height and 0.2 m thick

3.2 m area and 0.16 m thick

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

A rigid PVC pipe is used as bodkin. There should not be

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Length = 200 mm - 600 mm

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Gunny bag facing Brick facing wall

Modular concrete blocks for segmental retaining walls

Leading shear lip

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Geosynthetic reinforced soil wall with inclined surcharge load

HM = Mechanical height, HF = Facing height,

Precast concrete face panels:

- For segmental concrete block, if the spacing is more,

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

a) Minimum length of reinforcement

Detailed soil exploration has to be carried out along

Evaluate grain size distribution, moisture content,

Calculate the shear strength and consolidation

Check the grain size distribution and plasticity index.

Plasticity index should not exceed 6 (AASHTO T-90)

Coefficient of uniformity of reinforced fill 2.

Organic content should be limited to 5 %.

Determine optimum moisture content (OMC), maximum

For polyethylene and polypropylene, pH of soil > 3

Minimum aperture size of geogrid > 3.5 times the

In many cases, we use the minimum average roll