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Branches Inland Branch Report Back - Retaining
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'CONCRETE'S ROLE IN RETAINING EARTH STRUCTURES' SEMINAR Report Back
Almost 60 members and guests packed the conference room at this special half-day seminar organised recently by the Inland Branch. Four guest speakers presented various aspects of concrete's role in earth retaining structures. The speakers were: Andrew Smith – Reinforced Earth (Pty) Ltd Alan Parrock – ARQ (Pty) Ltd Garth James – Kaytech Engineered Fabrics Silvio Ferraris – ReMaCon Products, cc Andrew Smith was the first speaker to present, and he covered a detailed look at role of concrete for mechanically stabilised earth (MSE), including the all-important cladding requirements, namely:
NO LEACHING OF FINES PERMEABILITY DURABILITY AESTHETICS SAFETY DURING CONSTRUCTION EASE OF CONSTRUCTION Other aspects covered were backfill, cladding, loadings and the various applications to which MSE can be put. (Click here for full presentation)
He also concluded that SANS 207 places an onus not only on the Engineer to design these walls to internationally recognised standards, but also on the supplier of the components of the system to demonstrate that the design life of the structure will be attained by those components. Click here for full presentation
As well as describing the range currently available, Garth James covered other related topics including manufacturing processes of the geotextiles, testing and properties, environmental factors, creep, specification, applications and case studies. All this led the audience in no doubt that South African designers have a large range of geosynthetic products that are suitable for reinforcing applications at their disposal. Click the following for full presentation - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.
He stressed that retaining block walls are structural and not landscaping afterthoughts of nuisance value. They must, therefore, be treated with professional respect.
Click here for full presentation In closing the proceedings, Trevor Sawyer, Vice-Chairman of the Inand Branch thanked the four speakers for extremely interesting and informative presentations. He also thanked the sponsors of the event who were: Ash Resources (Pty) Ltd - Registration AfriSam SA (Pty) Ltd - Teas and coffees Cement & Concrete Institute - Buffet
Some of the 60 delegates attending the seminar Trevor Sawyer thanks speaker Alan Parrock for his presentation
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FLEXIBILITY
Alan Parrock provided a presentation on concrete block-faced geosynthetic-reinforced walls and after a very detailed and, on occasion, very amusing talk came to the conclusion that the ease of constructing nearly-vertical retaining walls utilising concrete blocks as a facing and high-stiffness, low-creep geosynthetics, combined with the relative cost-efficiency of these systems, makes them eminently suitable as retaining systems.
Focusing on a slightly different aspect to earth-retaining structures, Garth James shared his many years of experience and expertise in the geotextile market. Describing the current range of geotextiles available, he was able to show the audience samples ranging from the traditional non-woven, needle-punched polyester cloth to composite Aramid geogrids.
Finally, Silvio Ferraris, owner of a local precast concrete product company specialising in concrete retaining blocks (CRB's) spoke about SANS 508: Concrete Retaining Blocks and SANS 207: Design and construction of reinforced soils and fills. He described in some detail the requirements under these two specifiactions and alerted delegates of some of the risks and pitfalls in taking short cuts.
