ABSTRACT
For many centuries, living plants and dead wood had been used to reinforce soil slopes, embankments, foundations (e.g., timber piles) and earthen retaining walls such as those in ancient China (Smith and Snow, 2008) and ancient Rome (Partov et al., 2016). The design of these green reinforcement technologies was essentially empirical. As the world became increasingly industrialised, concrete and steel replaced timbers as the key materials in various types of infrastructural development and construction projects, including the improvement of slope stability. The mechanical properties of these man-made materials are highly controllable and predictable, and hence, they offer engineers and designers a better sense of safety and security in general. Nowadays, however, people seek for more environmentally friendly and green solutions to many engineering problems. The desire of the public to create a sustainable world for future generations has gradually motivated governments and engineers to rediscover vegetation as an engineering material. Soil bioengineering using plants can potentially offer an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and aesthetically pleasant solution for enhancing the stability of shallow soil slopes and controlling the surface erosion resulting from blowing winds and moving waters.
