Use of geosynthetic material for reinforced earthwall construction-A review

Reinforced earth retaining wall is comparatively a new construction technique. Due to its simplicity, economy and faster pace of construction, several such retaining walls have been constructed all over the world and this technique has almost replaced the conventional reinforced concrete and gravity retaining walls. To reduce the congestion on National Highway-2 at the crossing of Kalindi Kunj near Sarita Vihar, New Delhi, a flyover was constructed along Badarpur-Ashram direction. The construction of approach road was carried out with reinforced retaining wall with friction polymeric ties (geosynthetic material) as reinforcement material. Instead of conventional earth, pond ash from the nearby Badarpur thermal power plant was used as backfill material. The paper discusses the properties of geosynthetic reinforcement; backfill material, design details and the methodology adopted for construction of reinforced approach embankment. Conclusions have been drawn about the suitability of geosynthetic material as a reinforcement and pond ash as a backfill material for the retaining wall.