Reinforced soil walls have proved highly popular in recent years and are produced wherever possible, taking the place of concrete-faced soil retaining wall systems.

Employed in a range of different environments, they bring significant advantages, both financial and environmental. Indeed, unlike concrete-faced soil retaining wall systems, they:

• are sustainable because they give a vegetated finish;
• are a great space-saving solution, with slopes as steep as 80° (compared to the 30-40° of natural soil embankments);
• result in less pollution given the smaller number of trucks required to carry construction materials;
• make use of the excavated earth for backfilling, provided it is compatible with stability standards, meaning no more material needs to be brought in;
• blend seamlessly with their surroundings once the slopes are grassed over, without becoming a blot on the landscape of our villages.

Whatever the case, before planning the work, there are a number of aspects and data to be taken into consideration.

Preliminary data needed

To start with, all essential technical information must be procured in order to be able to assess the feasibility of the project, such as:

• geological testing of the area on which the wall is planned to be built
• topographical surveys
• meaningful cross-sectional drawings showing the current condition
• geometry of the planned wall (face angle, height, division into tiers, slope on top)
• external loads applied to the structure (top loads in the event it needs to accommodate a car park or a road)
• what earthquake risk zone the area is in
• geotechnical properties (angle of shearing resistance, cohesion and density) of the earth behind the future wall, of the foundation soil, and of the backfill
• whether there are perched aquifers or seepage of a different nature.

At this point, the next step is to check design calculations using specific software.

Checking design calculations

Checking is performed to assess both internal and external stability. The following tests are carried out in the former case:

• reinforcement strength test, which assesses possible failure mechanisms and determines the spacing, length and tensile strength of the geosynthetics due to be laid
• pull-out test to check that the reinforcement applied does not break or slide out
• direct sliding test, to ensure there is no translational movement across the installation planes
• wrap-around test, to ensure that the length wrapped around the top of each individual layer is stable.

The checks to be carried out during the project’s execution to assess external stability consist in sliding, overturning, bearing capacity and global failure analysis.

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