MSE bridge abutments - a structural solution

French architect and engineer, Henri Vidal, invented a new material while playing with sand and pine needles on a Mediterranean beach in 1957. He named this revolutionary new material "Reinforced Earth". The material proved to be both versatile and cost effective and its use spread rapidly throughout the world. By the early eighties a new industry had been created and the generic name for the material became Mechanically Stabilised Earth, or MSE for short.