A Study in Practice: Evaluating the Life Expectancy of an MSE Wall with Steel Strip Reinforcement

In over 50 years since the invention of Reinforced Earth walls, structures have been designed to
fulfill a variety of retaining solutions for infrastructure projects, as well as mining, marine, industrial,
commercial and residential projects. Over the service life of these projects, owners may decide to
change the scope of structures. These changes may include: design life extension, wall height increase and other alterations in geometry, changes in loading configuration, etc. To accommodate these modifications, structures must be assessed based on new scope, in addition to incorporating design changes.

This paper will present an inspection and evaluations program though a case study where specific
assessment methods and techniques have been utilized to demonstrate whether Mechanically
Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls can be stable for the required changes in scope. The assessment method includes visual inspections, strip sample extractions, and corrosion assessment. Since the service life of the structure is dependent on the strength of the soil reinforcements, by evaluating the strength of the test samples, the stability and remaining design life of structures at the current state can be determined. Following a similar method, the stability of a structure can be evaluated if loading conditions or geometry configurations need to be changed over the remining structure’s design life.