PERFORMANCE OF A 41-FOOT HIGH GEOTEXTILE WALL. FINAL REPORT

In order to provide for a preload fill in an area of limited right-of-way, the Washington State Department of Transportation designed and supervised the construction of a geotextile reinforced retaining wall 12.6 m (41.3 ft) high. Because the wall supported a surcharge fill more than 5 m (16 ft) in height and was significantly higher than any previously constructed wall of its type, an extensive program of instrumentation of the geotextile reinforcement and measurement of the wall movements was instituted. The paper describes the wall design and construction, purpose and objectives of the instrumentation program, instrumentation selection and installation, and results of the monitoring. The measured deflections and reinforcement strain were low, and overall wall performance was excellent.