Parametric Studies on the Behaviour of Reinforced Soil Retaining

Figure 2.2: Dykes in Netherlands
Source: Marjonnabar, Holland-Behind the Dykes, Webshot Channel, 2002
In the modern context, reinforced soil began to be used during the 1970’s where
firstly steel strips reinforcement and later, geotextiles reinforcement were used in the
construction of reinforced soil walls for slope stabilization. The present concept of
systematic analysis and design of reinforced earth was first developed by a French
Engineer, Henri Vidal in 1966 and later on, numerous works have been done by
Darbin in 1970, Schlosser and Vidal in 1969 and Schlosser and Long in 1974, and
Schlosser et al. in 1983 on the use of metallic strips as a reinforcing material.
Reinforced earth retaining walls have been constructed around the world since Vidal
started his work. Many hypotheses have been postulated in the past 25 years about
the load transfer between the soil and reinforcement and their interaction. Many
researchers have also carried out studies to find suitable method for the analysis and
design of reinforced soil structures.
2.2 History and Development of Reinforcing Systems
The development of the reinforced earth techniques was marked by the following
timelines:
The French architect and inventor Henri Vidal pioneered the development of
modern earth reinforcement techniques; the system he developed, known as
Reinforced Earth was patented in 1966 as Terre Armee in French and Reinforced
Earth in English
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