Reinforced earth walls are an economical alternative to traditional concrete walls in that the earth on the site can be used as fill. The most common reinforced earth walls are made with a facing wich can be:
1. green (right-hand diagram)
2. of prefabricated blocks (left-hand diagram).
Usually the existing site has low permeability (K<10^-5 m/s) so it does not have drainage properties. If damp or ground water is present, this willnot drain away and will not drain away and will reach the reinforced earth. The water reduces the properties of the soil and destabilizes the wall. In these conditions, the solution is to fit the INTERDRAIN GMG drainage geocomposite on the batter of the reinforced earth structure (see diagrams)
INTERDRAIN (GMG) functions
1. Interception and drainage of underground water from the natural soil.
2. Interception and drainage of rainwater infiltrating the fill.
3. Draining all the water to the drain pipe.
Do you want to know more?
R.M. Koerner & T. Y. Soong. Design of externnal drainage systems for segmental retaining walls. EUROGEO 3 Munich March 2004.