Location
New York, New York
Date
15 Apr 2004, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Abstract
The paper presents a study of backfill material for the reinforced earth used as riverbank restoration, based on two cases of stabilization with reinforced earth using geogrid type TENSAR reinforcements. The two cases are located one on Blue River in Kansas City, Missouri and the other on Delaware River in Kansas, respectively. Both projects were designed to restore the damaged riverbank due to slope failures in order to protect existing public utilities (water lines) and public roadways close to the failed riverbank, with limited space for excavation or setback the riverbank slope. Geotechnical investigation indicated very low soil strength parameters of the riverbank material being one of the principal causes of the slope instability. The failures occurred during the river rapid drawdown from the top of the riverbank to the normal river stage. The most economical repair alternative was to reconstruct the riverbank to an acceptable stable slope by reinforcing it with geogrid. Due to space restriction and limited funds the reinforcements were placed within 1-foot thick layer of granular material between 3 feet thick layers of cohesive material obtained from riverbank excavation. A sand layer placed behind the reinforced earth mass provides the adequate drainage of the stabilized earth. The horizontal sand layers reduce the length of the reinforcements, preventing additional damages of the adjacent public roads, and consequently the excavation volume and project cost. The horizontal sand layers around the reinforcements and the drainage sand layer behind the reinforced earth mass provided proper drainage of the reinforced earth mass and increased the stability of the riverbank to acceptable level for the case of sudden drawdown of the river stage. The paper presents the subsoil investigation, design analyses, construction aspects and the stabilized riverbank behavior after repair.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2004 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Perlea, Mary, "Non-Homogeneous Reinforced Earth Fill for Riverbank Stabilization" (2004). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 1.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/5icchge/session08/1
Non-Homogeneous Reinforced Earth Fill for Riverbank Stabilization
New York, New York
The paper presents a study of backfill material for the reinforced earth used as riverbank restoration, based on two cases of stabilization with reinforced earth using geogrid type TENSAR reinforcements. The two cases are located one on Blue River in Kansas City, Missouri and the other on Delaware River in Kansas, respectively. Both projects were designed to restore the damaged riverbank due to slope failures in order to protect existing public utilities (water lines) and public roadways close to the failed riverbank, with limited space for excavation or setback the riverbank slope. Geotechnical investigation indicated very low soil strength parameters of the riverbank material being one of the principal causes of the slope instability. The failures occurred during the river rapid drawdown from the top of the riverbank to the normal river stage. The most economical repair alternative was to reconstruct the riverbank to an acceptable stable slope by reinforcing it with geogrid. Due to space restriction and limited funds the reinforcements were placed within 1-foot thick layer of granular material between 3 feet thick layers of cohesive material obtained from riverbank excavation. A sand layer placed behind the reinforced earth mass provides the adequate drainage of the stabilized earth. The horizontal sand layers reduce the length of the reinforcements, preventing additional damages of the adjacent public roads, and consequently the excavation volume and project cost. The horizontal sand layers around the reinforcements and the drainage sand layer behind the reinforced earth mass provided proper drainage of the reinforced earth mass and increased the stability of the riverbank to acceptable level for the case of sudden drawdown of the river stage. The paper presents the subsoil investigation, design analyses, construction aspects and the stabilized riverbank behavior after repair.
