Design of reinforced earth retaining walls

Design of Reinforced Earth Retaining Walls Soil is a relatively inexpensive and abundant construction material, which makes it ideal for use in construction. Soil is a material capable of bearing only compression stresses but reinforced soil refers to a soil strengthened by a material able to resist tensile stresses and interacts with the soil through friction and adhesion. While concrete and steel form a composite system in reinforced concrete structures, in reinforced soil metallic and polymeric materials are used for the purpose of the reinforcement instead of steel. Thus, reinforced soil system is formed with the cooperation of soil and various metallic or polymeric reinforcements. Especially, in the recent years, the design of retaining structures with geosynthetic reinforcement has become a widely used method in geotechnical engineering areas. Reinforced soil retaining structures are commonly referred as mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining structures. Despite the fact that the applications of MSE retaining structure are based on a new technology, many structures are constructed by this method. In this study, the development of reinforced soil, its applications in different engineering areas, the main material types forming reinforced soil, the advantages and disadvantages of reinforced sou, important reinforced soil applications in Turkey have been investigated. Also the design procedures of geosynthetic reinforced earth retaining walls and the worked example of geotextile reinforced earth retaining wall were presented. Finally, a cost evaluation and comparison study on geogrid reinforced earth retaining wall and reinforced concrete retaining wall was presented. The evaluation of the results of cost analysis indicates that the geosynthetic reinforced earth retaining wall is a fairly economic solution beside its technical advantages.Key Words: Reinforced Earth, Geosynthetic, Geotextile, Geogrid, Retaining Wall, Cost Comparison, Mechanically Stabilized Earth