Slope Reinforcement Design Using Geotextiles and Geogrids

A geotextile is defined by ASTM as any permeable textile material used with foundation, soil, rock, earth, or any other geotechnical engineering related material, as a integral part of a man-made project, structure, or system. A geogrid is defined as any geotextile-related material used in a similar manner to geotextiles. They are usually made of plastic, but can be metal or wood. Geotextiles and geogrids are collectively referred to as geosynthetics in this paper. Geosynthetic reinforcement of slopes is a relatively new option available to the civil engineer. Slope angles can be increased and poor soil can be used to construct economical soil-geosynthetic facilities. Uncertainties exist in the complex interaction between the soil and the geosynthetic but there are numerous procedures which ignore this in the design. The design procedures available may be conservative yet still may be an economical alternative when compared to more conventional options.