Field Instrumentation and Evaluation of Modular-Block MSE Walls with Secondary Geogrid Layers
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 12
Abstract
Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls reinforced with geosynthetic have been used extensively in highway projects around the world. Typical vertical spacing of geosynthetic reinforcement used in the design of an MSE wall is 0.6 m. This large reinforcement spacing requires a high reinforcement connection strength and may result in wall-facing bulging in the practice. To alleviate such problems, use of secondary reinforcement between primary reinforcement layers was proposed. However, this idea was not verified in the field. In this study, three MSE wall sections reinforced with geogrid layers were constructed and monitored in the field: (1) an MSE wall section with uniaxial geogrid layers as primary and secondary reinforcement; (2) an MSE wall section with uniaxial geogrid layers as primary reinforcement and with biaxial geogrid layers as secondary reinforcement; and (3) an MSE wall section with uniaxial geogrid layers as primary reinforcement only (i.e., the control section). Earth pressure cells, inclinometer casings and probes, and foil-type strain gauges were used in these three test wall sections to measure vertical and lateral earth pressures, accumulated lateral wall-facing deflections, and strains of primary and secondary geogrid layers during construction, respectively. The results from monitoring these three MSE wall sections were analyzed. The test results demonstrated the effects of secondary reinforcement on the improved performance of MSE walls, including reduced accumulated wall-facing deflections, a more uniform lateral earth pressure distribution, and reduced tensile strains in primary geogrid layers.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support and field assistance from KDOT for this research project. Clarkson Construction Company provided great assistance and cooperation during the wall instrumentation and monitoring. Tensar International provided the geogrid for instrumentation. The Geosynthetic Institute provided a fellowship for the first author on this work. Past and current graduate students Dr. Xiaohui Sun, Dr. Deep Khatri, Jun Guo, Omar K. Ismael, and Fei Wang, past undergraduate students Zack Brady and Nick Andrus, and past and current visiting scholars Mustapha Rahmaninezhad, Dan Chang, Dr. Fulin Li, Dr. Hongbo Zhang and Dr. Hongguang Zhang, from the University of Kansas, provided great assistance in wall instrumentation and monitoring. All the support and help are greatly appreciated.
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© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 21, 2015
Accepted: May 3, 2016
Published online: Jul 15, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Dec 15, 2016
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