REINFORCED SOIL WALL FOR ASH POND IN BELLARY

Reinforced soil panel wall using Paraweb® (MacRes® system) was proposed to build the embankment within available width. The system is comprised of discrete concrete panels as fascia connected to Paraweb® placed within soil layers. As the embankment was prone to water submergence, the peripheral joints of panels were sealed from inside using impervious geosynthetic material (geomembrane) known as MacLine®, having a thickness of 1.5mm. MacLine® was placed on the inner face of panels by cutting at the location of connector. The proposed embankment was modelled in MacStars & checked for the global stability considering the submerged condition & full drawdown. It was found that the ground improvement needs to be provided as the safe bearing capacity of soil was not sufficient to withstand the load over it. It was decided to provide a sand pile at grid spacing of 1x1m to improve the bearing capacity. A geogrid of 300 KN/m was suggested over sand piles to increase bearing capacity and to control differential settlement. However, on downstream side the soil replacement of 600mm was proposed below leveling pad as ground improvement. The project is blend of different civil engineering solutions, which includes water containment, earth retaining & foundation soil treatment. This project is the first of its type in India in which reinforced soil wall technology using concrete panels is used to retain water and augmentation of capacity.