Facing Displacements in Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Walls

The paper summarizes current recommendations for anticipated and specified maximum horizontal deformation of geosynthetic reinforced soil wall facings found in a number of codes of practice. Recommended limits on verticality are compared to a database of wall performance data collected by the writers. In most cases, end of construction (EOC) measured facing deformations for walls on firm foundations are within recommended limits. Anticipated deformations for walls extrapolated out to a design life of 75 years are also reported. The results of a careful set of full-scale wall tests show that EOC deformations are influenced by both compaction effort and global reinforcement stiffness when other factors remain unchanged. The paper is of value to design engineers by providing example deformation data to estimate the additional facing batter required to satisfy intended design alignment and to provide adequate clearance for adjacent structures.

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