Design Approaches of Geosynthetic Reinforced Modular Block Wall in Tiered Configuration: A Comparative Study

This paper presents the results of a comparative study on the design approaches for geosynthetic reinforced modular block walls in a tiered configuration. Four field walls were analyzed based on the current design approaches and the discrepancies between the two approaches were identified. Finite element analyses were additionally conducted using a calibrated finite element model on a hypothetical wall having various offset distances. The results of the FE analysis were examined in terms of the wall deformation and the reinforcement load to study the effect of offset distance on the wall behavior. The results indicated among other things that the FHWA design approach yields rather conservative results, i.e, lower factors of safety, than the NCMA design approach. Also found that reinforcement lengths should be determined based on the global stability analysis for cases with the intermediate offset distance rather than the external stability calculations.