Latin America is a region that, due to its topographic conditions, presents great variability in the types of terrain, finding in the same project soils with different conditions, from hard and resistant, to soft and very soft. That is why for the implementation of structures in soil mechanically stabilized with geosynthetics, situations arise that must have a special and rigorous study.
We consult the ing. civil Felipe Correales, an expert in geosynthetics for this application, to learn about the common problems that arise and the considerations to take into account for the proper implementation of walls in reinforced soil.(Read: Frequent applications of walls in soil reinforced with geosynthetics).
For soft soils, the engineer recommends the following:
“There are cases where, with construction systems, the difficulty of soft soil can be avoided. The most important thing is that any structure is well founded. The useful life of the implemented solution will depend on the adequate stability achieved on the ground”.
As an improvement measure for the land, methods based on the increase in its unit weight can be used. Among the most used is the preload with drains. It consists of carrying out a load with a competent soil, it can be configuring an embankment structure, installing geosynthetics in its base to guarantee that differential settlements do not occur. At the end of the process, a stable level is reached, where the foundation soil presents better resistance conditions. Once this process has been carried out, the construction of the reinforced soil walls begins.
"The soil can also be densified by means of piles until a competent layer is reached, which guarantees good conditions for the structure to be built."
Similarly, he made the following assessment about other types of soil:
“There are more competent soils, harder and more resistant, where it is not necessary to make any type of improvement. As a premise, it is considered in this type of soil not to handle an embedding for the structure, but to lay the foundation on the ground level”, concluded the engineer. Felipe Correales on this type of soil.
If you want to know more recommendations or know types and applications of structures in reinforced soil, in the following document you can find more information.