Geosynt het i c s and Geosynt het i c s and

Rei nf or c ed Soi l St r uc t ur es
Rei nf or c ed Soi l Wal l s
Prof K Rajagopal Prof K. Rajagopal
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Madras, Chennai
e-mail: gopalkr@iitm.ac.in
Outline of the Lecture OutlineoftheLecture
Need for retaining walls Needforretainingwalls
TypesofRetainingWalls
i f d il Reinforcedsoil
ReinforcedSoilWalls
Advantages
Various configurations Variousconfigurations
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Need f or Ret ai ni ng Wal l s
S il h hi h i h b li i d Soil has high compressive strength but limited
tensile and shear strengths
Can stand on its own only up to its own angle of Can stand on its own only up to its own angle of
repose
Steeper slopes require lateral support Steepe s opes equ e ate a suppo t
Purpose of the retaining walls is to provide lateral
support to the soil to make it stand at steep angles
Initialsoilposition
withsteepslope
Finalslopeat
angleofrepose

cv
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TypesofRetainingWalls
GravityWalls masonry,cribwalls,gabionwalls,etc.
ReinforcedConcretewalls Cantilever,counterfort,buttressed
walls
RCWallswithshearkeys
SheetPilewalls
A h d Sh t Pil W ll AnchoredSheetPileWalls
Bracedsheetpilewalls
Diaphragmwalls
ReinforcedSoilRetainingWalls
AnchoredReinforcedSoilWalls
Soil Nailed walls driven nails screw nails pre stressed nailed SoilNailedwalls drivennails,screwnails,prestressednailed
walls,etc.
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Gravitywalls easytoconstruct,canbe
constructed even in remote areas using low constructedeveninremoteareasusinglow
technology,notsuitableforretainingsoilshigher
than about 2 to 3 m. thanabout2to3m.
ReinforcedConcreteWalls canbeusedfor
moderate heights to about 6 to 10 m. Beyond that moderateheightstoabout6to10m.Beyondthat
height,thesizeofthemembersincreasesrapidly.
The foundation pressures could be very high Thefoundationpressurescouldbeveryhigh
leadingtoexpensivefoundationtreatments.
During seismic events, large inertial forces are Duringseismicevents,largeinertialforcesare
produced.MostRCconcretestructuresfailduring
earthquakesduetolackofductilityorrigidity.
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Someearlyconcepts
Pre-cast
concrete
tieswith
Selectedstone
aggregate
panels
1.5mx 0.8m
anchors
1
Ordinarysoilfill
2
1
Coyne (1927) retaining wall at Brest, France - concrete panels can
slide down relative to each other due to settlements, ties attached with
anchors to develop passive resistance. In 1945, he built some similar
alls itho t anchors Notice that stone aggregate as sed to gi e
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walls without anchors. Notice that stone aggregate was used to give
good resistance in anchors.
SomeEarlyconcepts
reinforcing
elements elements
Frontfacing
Sectional view
Plan View
Munster (1925), USA Earth retaining structure made of wooden logs & planks
reinforcing elements are similar to ladders Front facing is a light thin facing reinforcing elements are similar to ladders . Front facing is a light, thin facing
element of wooden planks. The concept is still in vogue now, except that we
use steel reinforcing meshes instead of wooden ladders. Reinforcement has
sliding attachment and hence can settle down with backfill
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sliding attachment and hence can settle down with backfill.
ConventionalRetainingWalls g
Masonrygravityretainingwall
Reinforcedconcretesemigravityretaining
wall wall
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Secant pile wall at the bottom and nailed soil slope at the top
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p p p
of the excavation
Applyingprestresstothenail
Deepexcavationinbuiltupareas
Surfacetreatedwithsprayconcrete
afterthenailsarelockedin
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Deepexcavationsupportedbylockedinnailswithprestress
Basi c Pr i nc i pl e of Rei nf or c ed Soi l
Response of unreinforced and reinforced soil to external p
loading
1000
1200
Reinforced
600
800
1000
i f d
Withoutreinforcement Withreinforcement stronger
andstifferresponse
0
200
400
unreinforced
p
0
0 5 10 15
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Componentsofreinforcedsoilretainingwalls
Reinforcement Reinforcedsoil block
B kfill il F i
Reinforcement
layers
Reinforced soil block
Backfill soil Facing
panels
Levelling pad
Foundationsoil Foundation soil
Thin, flexible facing panels - about 180 mmthick Thin, flexible facing panels about 180 mm thick
Levelling pad is usually 150 mm thick and 300-400 mm wide
Backfill soil is select non-plastic fgranular fill
Horizontal reinforcement layers Horizontal reinforcement layers
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Henr i Vi dal s Or i gi nal Rei nf or c ed Ear t h Wal l





Henri Vidal
French Engineer &
Architect
An early form of Reinforced
E th i t l t i Earth using steel strip
reinforcement and steel
membrane facing
1963 : Patent filed for
Reinforced Earth
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Types of wal l f ac i ngs i n Rei nf or c ed Soi l Wal l s
FullheightPanel
wall
Segmental
panelwall
Modularblock
facedwall
Geotextilewrapped
retainingwall
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Chr onol ogy of Rei nf or c ed Soi l Wal l s
Year Event Year Event
1963 Reinforced Earth patented by Henry Vidal
1968 First major RE structure built in France using steel strips 1968 First major RE structure built in France using steel strips
1970 First geosynthetic wall using polyester (PET) straps in France
1971 First geotextile wall using wrap around concept built in France g g p p
1974 First RE structure built in USA
1980 Tensar geogrids (PP and PE) developed (first geogrids in the
field)
1981 First geogrid reinforced soil retaining wall in UK
1985 Polyester geogrids developed (knitted variety) 1985 Polyester geogrids developed (knitted variety)
1986 First reinforced soil retaining wall built in India at Ludhiana using
fly ash as the backfill height about 9m
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2006 First geogrid manufactured in India
Di f f er ent Types of Rei nf or c ement s
Geosynt het i c Rei nf or c ement
Geotextiles
Geogrids
PolymericStrips
Gridsmadeofstrips
St eel Rei nf or c ement
S l S i SteelStrips
WeldedSteelmeshes
Steel strips with anchors Steelstripswithanchors
Twistedsteelwiremesh
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Cost c ompar i son
(FHWA1997)
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Di f f er enc es bet ween Rei nf or c ed soi l wal l s and
c onvent i onal wal l s
I t em Rei nf or c ed Rei nf or c ed Soi l Wal l s I t em Rei nf or c ed
Conc r et e Wal l s
Rei nf or c ed Soi l Wal l s
Flexibility Rigid system Highly flexible
Settlements Cannot tolerate large total Can tolerate large deformations without distress Settlements Cannot tolerate large total
or differential settlements
Can tolerate large deformations without distress
Maximum Height Limited to some heights Can be built to even large heights as much as 50
to 100 m
Constructability Skilled labour required Unskilled labour can be used
Pace of construction Slow because of curing
requirements
As fast as the backfill soil is brought to site
Foundation
requirements
Large foundationpressures
needs good foundation
Foundation is not required
Seismic response Attracts large inertial forces Highly flexible can undergo large deformation Seismic response Attracts large inertial forces
failures due to rigidity
Highly flexible can undergo large deformation
during seismic events without collapse
Variations to suit site Not possible Several varieties of configurations are possible
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a ato s to sut s te
conditions
ot poss be Se e a a etes o co gu ato s a e poss be
Differenttypesofwallconfigurations
Full-height wall
S d W ll i
Full-height wall
SteppedWallin
Weaksoils
Trapezoidal wall for
very strong soils
Part-height wall
Embedded wall
(both sides not
Back to back walls
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connected)
DifferentTypesofWallConfigurations
Tieredwallforvery
large heights
Bridge abutment wall
largeheights
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2-tier wall
44m high 4-tier wall
Recap
This lecture has introduced the need for
Recap
Thislecturehasintroducedtheneedfor
retainingwallsandreinforcedsoilretaining
walls walls
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