Reinforced earth combines soil with linear reinforcing strips to enhance tensile strength, enabling it to resist tensions better than soil alone. The technique, inspired by the construction of sandcastles, utilizes lightweight materials for quick installation, improving stability and reducing settlement issues. Key components include soil, a protective skin, and various reinforcing materials like steel and geotextiles, suitable for various applications including retaining walls and bridge abutments.

1. Presentation
on
Reinforced earth &
Reinforced earth structures
By
Umer Farooq
Roll no. 01-CE-2008

2. Reinforced earth is a combination of earth and linear
reinforcing strips that are capable of bearing large
tensile stresses.
The reinforcement provided by these strips enable
the mass to resist the tension in a way which the
earth alone could not. The source of this resistance to
tension is the internal friction of soil, because the
stresses that are created within the mass are
transferred from soil to the reinforcement strips by
friction.

3. How the idea of
Reinforced Earth came?
IT ALL BEGAN LIKE A GAME, when Henri Vidal, a
highway engineer and architect, was trying to built a
sandcastle on the beach. But the sand kept on falling
off and this led to the idea of reinforcing the
construction with pine needles. That is how the
general principle of Reinforced Earth came about.

4. Why Consider
Reinforced Soil Structures?
 Wire mesh/geotextile fabric construction materials are
light, easy to transport, and quick to construct.
 The only machinery required is a backhoe/excavator
and a compactor.
 Differential settlement is eliminated & Bearing Capacity
increased.
 Rapid construction is reported.
 This technique can result in saving the area of land.

5. Components of Reinforced Earth
1. Soil
2. Skin
3. Reinforcement

6. Arrangement of the Components in Reinforced Earth Structure

7. Soil for Reinforced Earth
 It should be granular, cohesion less material, not too
much silt or clay having particle size not more than
125 mm.
 Not more than 10 percent of the particles shall pass 75
micron sieve & the earth reinforcement coefficient of
friction to be either higher than or equal to 0.4 &
Plasticity Index < 6.
 The soil must have a moisture content suitable for
compaction.

8. Skin
 Skin is the facing element of the reinforced soil
wall.
 These elements keeps the reinforcement at a
desired elevation in the reinforced soil wall and
also protect the granular at the edge falling off.
 Made of either metal units or precast concrete
panels.

9. Reinforcing Material:
 A variety of materials can be used as reinforcing materials
e.g,
 Steel
 Concrete
 Glass fibre
 Wood
 Rubber
 Aluminium
 Reinforcement may take the form of strips, grids, anchors
& sheet material, chains, planks, rope, vegetation and
combinations of these or other material forms.

10. Fasteners are used to make a connection between the facing and reinforcing
elements usually of the form of hexagon headed screws and nuts and bolts

11. Reinforced Earth abutment in flyover

12. Where a bank is
eroding and sliding
onto a road, near a
building, etc, a
reinforced soil
structure can be a
cost effective
solution.
A Reinforced Soil Retaining Wall

13. Bridge
abutments can
be effectively
constructed as a
reinforced soil
structure.
A Reinforced Soil Bridge Abutment

14. A Reinforced Soil Box
Culvert or Small Bridge
Structure

15. Reinforced earth structure in Railways

17. Design of Reinforced Earth Retaining Wall
In the reinforced earth wall two type of stability checked:
External stability : It consider the reinforced structure as
whole and check the stability for
sliding, overturning, bearing/tilt and slip by considering the
effects of dead loads, other loads (live load, dynamic load
etc.) and forces acting on the structure.
Internal stability:
It cover internal mechanism ( tension and pull out failure)
such as shear within the structure , arrangement and
behavior of the reinforcement and backfill. It checks the
stability for each reinforcement layers and stability of
wedges within the reinforced fill

18. Seismic Stability
High performance during the 1995 Kobe Earthquake of a GRS RW of
this type that had been constructed at Tanata validated its high
seismic stability