A review on the application of industrial waste as reinforced earth fills in mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls.

Abstract

The infrastructure development of a country is focussed on the development of roadways that includes the construction of many bridges and flyovers with retaining walls. The construction of the mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall gained momentum since 1960 owing to the various beneficial aspects in terms of its durability, economy, stability, appearance, sustainability aspects, etc. A typical MSE retaining wall is a composite structure made up of compacted backfill and reinforcement elements, fixed to a wall facing. The increasing rate of urbanization leads to the development of more industries resulting in the production of wastes such as fly ash, waste foundry sand, pond ash, slags, etc. The disposal of these wastes is often a big issue for the industries, and hence, their utilization in the construction industry is studied by researchers to solve the problem of waste dumping. This review article summarizes the studies involving the potential use of industrial waste material as reinforced earth fills in the MSE retaining wall. The researchers used waste materials from industries like thermal power plant, mining, construction, metal smelting units etc. The important fill properties such as particle size, friction angle, and density were compared with the standard codal provisions. The different dimensions of the research experiments involving the MSE backfill using various industrial wastes were presented in this review.