Kehoe Myers delivered an impressively large reinforced soil retaining wall in 2019 for the Wagner group. The retaining wall located on Anzac Avenue, Toowoomba is 9.5 metres high and 300 metres long. These retaining walls are designed with a geogrid, also referred to as a polymer grid blanket. The geogrid is placed underneath concrete blocks (supplied by Wagners) and run into the soil of the retaining wall. The soil then becomes the structure as the weight of the soil holds each block in place. This effectively means the blocks are not part of the structure, rather they are merely the facing to the structure.
This revolutionary retaining technique is more economical than block retaining walls that require steel reinforcement. There were some complex challenges throughout the engineering process – in particular, our team had to consider the soil conditions around the site and the soil being used for backfill. Our team also needed to consider the force applied to the wall and connection strength between the grid and the blocks.
Reinforced soil retaining walls are mostly seen on commercial properties or used to build up walls near roads. Our team enjoyed the complexities associated with this project, and look forward to working on more engineering projects with reinforced soil retaining walls.
