GeoWall: Creativity, Statistics, and Reliability

GeoWall is a national competition to construct a model-scale reinforced soil wall using paper reinforcing with a poster board facing element. The objective is to optimize the "design," construct the wall, load test it and write a forensic analysis paper on the performance. The GeoWall project provides a manageable, hands-on activity for civil engineering students to begin to develop a sense of engineering analysis, design, construction, evaluation and decision making and has been adapted for inclusion in an introductory civil engineering course. Developing the tests to physically measure the engineering properties involves creativity of the team members. Statistical analysis of the combined class measurements provides practice with probability, distributions and Excel®. Design of the reinforcement for the GeoWall provides an early opportunity for students to practice simple design skills and for managing team-work and communication. It also incorporates reliability analysis into the report writing. The competition of building and testing the physical model of the GeoWall presents the teams with a pseudo-practice construction environment where time, materials, design, craftsmanship and communication skills are required. Testing of the model wall provides some validation of the design but in most cases presents more opportunities for forensic analysis and discovery. The post-wall test forensics report provides the opportunity for students to reflect on their experiences, their designs and to assess not only the success or failure of their design but also the accuracy of their reliability analyses. Project implementation is the focus of this article.