external works maccaferri reinforced earth mega-wall · pdf filehard, stone-filled, gabion...
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It is one of 30 reinforced earthretaining walls, all over 15m tall,designed by Maccaferri for JointVenture Construction PartnersBechtel-Enka, builders of the 171kmlong motorway, which crosses thecountry through spectacularmountainous terrain from theAdriatic Sea to Kosovo in the northeast.
The largest wall retains over 140,000cum of back fill and has a face area ofapproximately 3,500 sqm. With a walllength of 200m and height of 38m, itmakes this one of the tallestreinforced earth structure of its typein Europe.
The walls are constructed as hybridreinforced earth geogrid wrap-aroundstructures, built in conjunction withhard, stone-filled, Gabion Terrameshfacings. Paralink 300 uniaxialpolyester geogrid is the principalreinforcing element, sandwiched at500mm or 1000mm verticalincrements between layers ofcompacted back fill.
The Terramesh system comprises acontinuous horizontal panel of wovensteel-wire mesh geogrid with anintegral gabion fascia unit. Thismakes the system efficient andeconomical to construct as there is nocomplex connection between grid andfacia element. Installation is quickerand there is less potential risk oferrors and omissions duringconstruction.
The fascia unit is filled with hard,rock-fill in the same manner as agabion and the geogrid tail is thensandwiched between layers ofcompacted granular fill. Subsequentcourses of Terramesh units areconstructed to form a near vertical,[typically, a 9 degree batter] reinforcedsoil retaining structure, in this case,38m in height. The structure has theaesthetics of a gabion wall, with therobustness of soil reinforcement.
As many sections of the motorwayrun alternatively through large, steepembankment-fill sections and slopecuts, the availability of large
quantities of rock fill from the slopeexcavations made the choice ofreinforced earth embankments a morecost effective alternative to theconstruction of viaducts.
The Maccaferri / Bechtel - Enkapartnership arrangement for theAlbania Motorway constructionproject is typical of the directionMaccaferri is taking with complexinternational projects as theyincreasingly become global specialistsin this field. In the UK, the companyhas offices in Oxford, Perth andBelfast and operates over a widerange of geotechnical and civilengineering disciplines.
Construction of the AlbanianMotorway project was completed inSummer, 2009.
T 01865 770555E [email protected]
Maccaferrireinforced earth
mega-wall forAlbanian motorway
project
January 2010 www.mcdermottpublishing.com EXTERNAL WORKS 33
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Geotechnical specialists, Maccaferri hasdesigned what is thought to be amongst thetallest reinforced earth retaining walls ever tobe built in Europe, for a motorway constructionproject in Albania.
The motorway runs alternatively through large, steep embankment-fill sections and slope cuts,so the availability of large quantities of rock fill from the slope excavations made reinforcedearth embankments a more cost effective alternative to the construction of viaducts.
The largest wall retains over 140,000 cum of back filland has a face area of approximately 3,500 sqm. With
a wall length of 200m and height of 38m, it makes thisone of the tallest reinforced earth structure of its type
in Europe
The Maccaferri walls are constructed as hybridreinforced earth geogrid wrap-around structures, built
in conjunction with hard, stone-filled, GabionTerramesh facings.
EcoBuildingNews_Issue_4i_2010_final_Layout 1 07/01/2010 15:44 Page 33