What are Reinforced Steep Slopes?
Strata recognizes that maximizing land use is the most critical need and has a major cost impact on any site development. Challenges in resolving grade change on the site are increasingly necessary as land cost increases and the difficulty to develop property becomes commonplace. To address these challenges, we provide the technical basis and economic solution for severe slope challenges, problematic soil conditions and land development needs.
Applications of Reinforced Steep Slopes
StrataSlope™ systems use StrataGrid™ geogrids as reinforcing elements, combined with varied facing options to suit site requirements. The facing can be vegetated to provide a green aesthetic look or can be filled with stone for a more robust appearance. Steep slopes are classified as structures with a face that is less than 70 degrees from the horizontal.
Any structure greater than 70 degrees should consider our retaining wall solutions.
Key advantages of Reinforced Steep Slopes
- Economically sound option
- Deep tolerance for total or differential settlement
- Multiple facing solutions like vegetation and rock fill
- Quick and hassle free installation
- Eco-friendly and has a negligible impact on areas like wetlands and natural habitats
- Exceptional structural capacity (i.e. 70° reinforced slopes which can be made as tall as required)
- Utilize on-site fill or minimize borrow requirement
SLOPE TYPES
Types of slopes
H:1V Or Flatter
What is commonly referred to as 1H:1V or flatter slopes, are slopes where proportion of the height of the rise is less than or equal to the length of the slope.
1H:1V Or Steeper
These slopes are classified as slopes where the proportion of the height of the rise is higher than the length of the slope.
Embankments
Embankments represent a special class of slopes or walls where soil reinforcement is used to stabilize and construct a fill structure having a smaller footprint than what could be constructed with the soil alone. Embankment stabilization is common when constructing roadways or other structures over soft, weak foundation materials.
FASCIA TYPES
Types of fascia
There are several factors that can help determine the best facing option for your project. A major advantage of Strata’s Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) system is that they offer highly geotechnical designed structures which have technical and commercial advantages over traditional techniques. Our systems are designed according to international standards and offer a long-term design life of 120 years and quality-controlled system installation.
StrataWeb® fascia system consists of flexible geocell panels as fascia elements and StrataGrid™ geogrids. Depending on the project requirement, their ideal usage is in 3 or 4 cell wide panels for fascia. StrataWeb® fascia system’s biggest advantages are that it comes in a collapsible form (easy transportation) and the installation can be carried out by unskilled labour. Not to forget the aesthetics, the outermost strap of the StrataWeb® panels used as fascia can be made in green colour to match with the lush greenery around.
The wire mesh is welded and allows rapid construction of reinforced soil structure with steel forms.
How does it work?
A wrap of jute/coir or similar vegetation supporting material is placed along with the welded wire mesh. The vegetative soil behind this helps in rapid growth of the vegetation to provide the desired green finish. The mesh elements are sacrificial in nature and once the sustainable vegetation growth is achieved, the fascia becomes self-sufficient.
The StrataGrid™ geogrid is wrapped around bio-degradable bags that are filled with vegetative fertile soil and seeds. These bags allow the vegetation to grow through them and provide a sustainable long-term vegetative slope to the reinforced soil structure for a 120-year design life.
The Gabion fascia system consists of StrataGrid™ geogrid layers along with corrosion-resistant gabion units. These are typically 1 m in height, but can be altered according to project-specific requirements. These fascia elements are installed on-site and then filled with stone.
Whatever the site requirement demands, the welded mesh wire fascia is prefabricated to cater to it. It allows the rapid construction of the reinforced soil structure with steel forms. To ensure that no backfill material loss through stones takes place, a separator nonwoven geotextile is supported behind the stone.
These fascia elements are flexible and adapt well with the alignment of any project.
For this structure, no fascia elements are required for slopes that are flatter than 45°. The said slopes require only StrataGridTM reinforcement that extends to the face and can be supported with the provision of a vegetative cover that helps prevent erosion. Something as simple as the use of a green mat is required to obtain the vegetative cover. For a more solid solution, the StrataWeb® erosion protection system can be placed on the face of the slope.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
SLOPE STABILITY
Slope Stability
Slope stability design is commonly evaluated by calculating the driving and resisting forces to determine the factor of safety against rotation or movement.
This is commonly utilised to define three failure regimes:
1
Internal
Failure surfaces that are contained entirely within the reinforced soil zone.
2
Compound
Failure surfaces that begin outside or behind the reinforced soil zone but pass through the reinforcement and exit in the foundation or through the structure face.
3
Global
Overall/deep seated failure surfaces that pass outside the reinforcement and into the underlying foundation soils.
Regardless of the failure regime, the designer must analyze numerous failure surfaces and isolate that surface which generates the least factor of safety for stability.
Computer software allows the designer to rapidly analyze thousands of failure surfaces and optimize reinforcement requirements to provide adequate factors of safety at the best economics. For each failure surface passing through a layer of reinforcement, the analysis considers the tensile strength of the reinforcement to investigate tensile rupture or failure, and geogrid pullout resistance.
Strata makes tools available to designers that allow easy selection of primary and secondary reinforcements. StrataSlope™ Software is a limit-equilibrium design package that automates primary geogrid reinforcement design utilizing circular or log-spiral failure surfaces with the Bishop’s Method of Slices. Additional tools are available that address surficial stability using parallel failure surface of infinite length (i.e. sliding wedge approach).
Gallery of Reinforced Steep Slopes Projects
Real-World Projects Showcasing Reinforced Steep Slopes with StrataSlope™, Geocell or Geogrid
Related Products for Seamless Reinforced Steep Slopes Integration
Products used in Reinforced Steep Slopes
From technical resources, project management to site consultation, StrataSlope™ System is a serious solution that is your companion from start to end of construction. Harnessing the power of StrataGrid™ along with various facing options and products, ensures that a technical base is provided to ward of all and any topographic challenges. Be it unfavourable soil conditions or land development, the systems are equipped with commendable abilities.
| StrataGrid™ (Geogrid)
StrataGrid™ (geogrid) is a high performance soil reinforcement solution that is produced by knitting high-tenacity polyester yarn into a dimensionally-stable network of apertures to form a geometric grid.
| StrataWeb® (Geocell)
One of nature’s strongest structural shapes is the three dimensional honeycomb. StrataWeb® (geocell) applies this shape to soil reinforcement to solve some of today’s most difficult civil engineering problems.
| StrataSlope™ System
The StrataSlope™ system is a cost-effective, environment friendly, and sustainable solution for your geotechnical or geo-environmental project. Our Strata technical team will be your companion from the initial project commissioning, through detailed design and onward to the end of the construction.
Success stories of Reinforced Steep Slopes
Projects that have showcased Reinforced Steep Slopes with StrataSlope™, Geocell or Geogrid
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CONSULTATION
From know-how to manufacture, installation and support
Strata not only provides geotechnical products, but our team of 200+ engineers can help you with your turnkey project by supplying you with technical knowhow and support as to how our products can help you finish your projects in time while keeping costs down.
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