Applications of reinforced soil for transport infrastructure

摘要

Reinforced soil has been used for many years in geotechnical engineering and a number of itsapplications have a role in the construction of transportation infrastructure, including applications for foun-dations, embankments, slopes, walls, pavements, railway track-beds and other geotechnical structures. Thereinforcing elements available are manufactured from a range of basic materials and by a number of very differ-ent manufacturing processes, so they exhibit a variety of properties. The various applications have significantlydifferent operational requirements and there are many different design methods available. The variety of rein-forcing products and their critical engineering properties are described, together with the test methods employedto assess them. Operational requirements are considered for each application type and the importance of con-struction effects is highlighted. The design methods presently available for the various applications are criticallyassessed against a background of experience and improved understanding from research.