Chapter 73 Design of soil reinforced slopes and structures

Reinforced soil structures are composite constructions involving some form of reinforcement (usually geosynthetic or metallic), generally installed in horizontal layers within a soil mass. The reinforcement layers extend beyond the potential failure surface, absorb the tensile strains that would otherwise cause failure of the non-reinforced soil and redistribute them in the soil beyond the failure plane. This chapter aims to introduce the general concepts of soil reinforcement, the various materials and general principles involved in the design of reinforced soil structures. Reinforced soil walls and abutments, reinforced soil slopes and basal reinforcement are discussed.