Mass Gravity Retaining Walls

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Mass Gravity Retaining Walls

2019

IPATINGA - MINAS GERAIS - Brasil

Usinas Siderúrgicas de MInas Gerais S.A. - Usiminas

Macservice Serviços de Engenharia Ltda.

KF2 Engenharia e Consultoria Ltda.

Mass Gravity Retaining Walls

Problem

The client had entered into an Environmental Compliance Agreement (TAC) with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Minas Gerais, in which they committed to the restoration of a permanent protection area along the banks of the Piracicaba River in the municipality of Ipatinga. The construction site is known as Pátio III, where Usiminas had been depositing steel mill slag for years, a byproduct of steel production. Due to the accumulation of material over the years, a steep slope had formed on the riverbanks, posing a risk of material collapsing into the water body and consequently contaminating the waters.

Solution

According to the premises outlined in the Environmental Recovery Plan (PRAD) provided by the client, the best solution among the available options in the market was the construction of a gabion wall using PoliMac™ gabions and the slope’s lining with MacWeb® geocells. In addition to the proposed and implemented Maccaferri solutions, the project included the planting of grasses on the slopes and the crest of the wall through hydroseeding, as well as the planting of native tree seedlings along the riverbanks. The project also included ongoing monitoring of the grasses and tree seedlings’ development and geotechnical monitoring of the containment structure.

Used Products

Gabions
Gabions
Maccaferri Gabion is a Double-Twisted “DT” wire mesh container of variable sizes uniformly partitioned into internal cells, interconnected with othView
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Reno Mattress Plus
Reno Mattress Plus
Traditional river bank protections made with loose stones (rip-rap) require a thick layer of material to be effective. This is due to the fact thatView
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MacWeb
MacWeb
Geocells consist of juxtaposed cells normally produced with strips of extrude synthetics materials (either smooth, textured, perforated or not) to View
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