Construction and first measurements of a 36 m high geosynthetic reinforced soil structure

摘要

In the quarry Gundelsheim rocks of the Upper Muschelkalk, middle trias, are exploited for the mining of gravel. For redepositing rock bars are left in place behind which the fill material is placed. Due to a fault zone one of these rock bars moved significantly so that a failure of the rock bar and the redeposited material was likely to happen. To prevent failure of another rock bar a GRSS was built, to reduce fill material earth pressure acting on the rock bar. Large deformations and therefore additional forces on the rock bar are prevented by a layer of loose material placed in front of the rock bar. Stabilising force of the loose material was neglected when the GRSS was designed. Measurement results up to today do not indicate large strains in the geosynthetics as calculated during design. Most of the strains were induced during compaction of the layer directly above the geosynthetic. The increase in strain and therefore force in the geosynthetic with increasing surcharge is small. Temperature measurements taken at each strain gauge position indicate that soil temperatures, present during construction are stored for long time in the ground. They are independent of daily changes after a small layer is placed above it. After several months a mean temperature of around 10-13° will be reached. In deeper layers the temperature is nearly constant. Construction of the GRSS is still in process, at present 50% of the final height are reached. Until now no excessive deformation occurred. Geosynthetics have been placed successfully by employees not familiar with the material. Measurements of the construction are proceeded continuously.