Retaining Wall With Geotextile and Geogrid Reinforcement
It is becoming more critical to employ conservative techniques when constructing new projects. This is to ensure high reliability and longevity. Steep artificial slopes and geotextile/geogrid reinforcement slopes are commonly used to retain walls as they offer stabilization.
It is shown that the woven geotextiles and geogrids improve the internal stability of structures by providing internal drainage for Geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) walls with poorly draining marginal backfill.
Depending on the wall height and site conditions, retaining walls often require soil reinforcement. To the best of our knowledge, geogrid or geotextile installation can be used to reinforce soil behind retaining walls.
How to Retain Walls With Geogrid and Geotextile Reinforcement
As the demand for retaining walls continue to increase, different solutions are coming into play. As a result, the knowledge in utilizing these systems in innovative new ways continues to grow in ground engineering.
There are a lot of geotextile installation solutions for the creation of both green- and hard-faced retaining walls.
1. Retaining wall with reinforced soil, cross section
Geogrid soil reinforcement is employed if the weight of the wall units alone cannot resist the force of an unstable soil wedge or any load above it.
Horizontal layers of geogrid provide tensile strength to hold the reinforced soil mass together.
As a result, the geogrid-reinforced soil mass becomes part of the retaining wall system, providing more size and weight that the system needs to resist pressures from behind it. For taller walls, more layers of stronger geogrids are introduced to hold the reinforced soil mass internally.
As the wall gets taller, longer geogrid lengths need to be introduced to increase the size of the geogrid-reinforced soil mass.
2. VERSA-Grid soil reinforcement
VERSA-Grid is lightweight, flexible, and easy to install. It comes in multiple strength types commonly used for landscape and commercial walls. VERSA-Grid has no memory hence it lays flat after being unrolled.
VERSA-Grid 1.5 is used for some residential walls, but only for walls up to 6-ft. tall. It is available in 22 sq. yd. per roll (4-ft. wide by 50-ft long rolls).
3. Retaining wall with unreinforced soil, cross section
Retaining walls with unreinforced soil hold back potentially unstable wedges of soil. Additional loading, poor soils, or slopes on top of a wall or bottom of a wall will reduce the maximum stable unreinforced height.
So depending on the type of unit used, soil type, and other site conditions, unreinforced walls can be 3-4 feet tall in the best conditions.
Typical Applications of Geotextile and Geogrid Reinforcement
Geogrids can be used in a variety of applications as well as a variety of finishes (hard facing, gabions, vegetated, etc.) to meet even the most demanding aesthetic requirements. Check out the following applications:
- Retaining walls
- Slope reinforcements
- Green walls
- Steepened bunds and embankments
- Reinforced earth structures
- Steepening bunds
- Veneer slope stabilization
Major Benefits of Geotextile and Geogrid Reinforcement
- Reduced land take
- Environmentally beneficial walls
- SuDS compliant solutions
- Steeper walls
- Reduced material import
- Single source for supply, design, install, and maintenance
- Bespoke planting
Wall Heights That Require Geogrid Soil Reinforcement
Generally, most soil reinforcement units need geogrid for walls taller than 3-4 feet. Meanwhile, geogrid can be used to reinforce shorter walls if there are poor soils, loading above the wall, steep slopes near the wall, or tiered walls.
Regardless of the wall heights (whether tall or short), it is suggested to compensate for “almost incontrollable” influences on the durability and stability of such structures. High standards are required for the safety and durability of walls (whether tall or short).
Fortunately, woven geotextile installation is a relatively low cost for reinforced retaining walls compared to the expenses for conventional retaining walls.
In a Nutshell
Geogrid is a geosynthetic material made of polymers, that is installed in horizontal layers between wall courses and extending into the soil behind a wall.
The design concept for geotextile reinforcement is such that it increases a wall system’s stability and mass, and also stabilizes the soil.
Geotextile reinforced structures have proven successful over a long time. In terms of safety and reliability, the geotextile wall construction method is widely used and generally accepted for both less important and high-profile structures.
For further information, feel free to get in touch with our specialists.