ABSTRACT
MSE retaining wall with concrete facing panels is a pretty popular system used globally to support or enable the construction of infrastructure, forming retaining walls, abutments and wing walls. Polymeric reinforcement strips have been introduced in the MSE wall market as an alternative from traditional reinforcements with performance and cost-effectiveness significant advantages. They are also recommended for non-conventional situations such as marginal fills, chemically aggressive environment or in warm climates, where other reinforcements might be strongly affected by corrosion. Polymeric reinforcing strips, encased in LLDPE coating, have proved to perform like other non-extensible linear reinforcements, reaching higher values of pullout resistance. MSE walls with geostrips can be designed following International Standards, however, some considerations on the design methods applicability and nature of the reinforcements are provided here. MSE walls with polymeric strip were first introduced to the European market in the mid-1970s and their market has been growing ever since all over the world but only recently has been developed in North America. This paper presents two case studies of MSE wall projects reinforced with geostrips recently realized in Maryland and California.
