Guidelines for rock-faced reinforced earth and gravity walls

[Rial]

At the request of our local Building and Engineering Departments, we (a geotechnical committee) are in the process of preparing guidelines for rock-faced reinforced earth and mortarless rock gravity walls. One existing quideline that we have found is the "ARC Standard Roack Wall Cconstruction Guideline". Are the some other good guidlines out there we could reference? One question we are working on right now is a reasonable height limitation?

 

[kmerl]

Well I think that rock-faced reinforced earth walls and mortarless rock gravity walls are two very different wall construction systems.

In general I would be inclined to remark that reinforced earth structures (MSE, Panel, etc.)could be constructed to a considerably greater height than a mortarless rock gravity wall. For MSE type walls Alan Block has generated a reasonable manual:

http://www.claytonsonline.com/documents/eng.pdf

For dry rock retaining walls there is a good manual from USACE on engineering with large rocks:

http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-2-2302/entire.pdf

I think another good way to determine maximum height of wall would be to find some good case studies. Also I think it would be of great importance to consider adding guildance for control of seepage and groundwater, and for total settlement along the length of the wall (my two cents.) Unfortunately I do not have any readily available for you, but if I come across any I will offer them up.



Also refer to thread255-82018...

Regards,

Keithe J. Merl

 

[GabionGuy]

Information on the design of gabion faced (Terramesh) and rock face (Terrawall) MSE systems and case studies are available from Maccaferri.

Depanding upon where you are located, there may aready be standards in place and height limits in place.

 

[jackcox]

I have been searching to find the actuyal document from ARC for construction guidelines for rock walls. I cannot seem to locate it on the internet so assume it must exisit in hard copy only.

I need to look for guidance on allowable heights of stacked stone walls as a function of stone sizebatter angle, etc

any guidance as to how to locate the guidelines or the association is much appreciated

reply to jcox@ttfwi.com

 

[evilscott]

I have also been looking for engineering guidelines for mortarless rock wall construction. I've heard about the ARC
Standard Rock Wall Cconstruction Guideline but have not been able to locate it. Can you point me in the direction of its source ?

 

[NewcastleEngineer]

If you are looking into producing guidelines for MSE walls (reinforced rock walls) you shold base it on the standard of practice. The standard of practice is the National Concrete and Masonry Association (NCMA) for commercial projects and AASHTO for tranportation projects. These design methodologies are based on sound engineering principals and produce safe and proven designs. Be careful basing any guidelines based upon a manufacturer's design manual. They tend to take liberties in basic assumptions that are less conservative than NCMA or AASHTO.

 

[jackcox]

My application in the coastal regine typically does not entail reinforced earth, and is frequently dictated by regulatory restictions or architectural and aesthetic considerations. The need then is to understand how to stack rock walls, not really as a revetment, but rather as a low retaining or breast wall.