Name: Md.

Meftahul Alam
Student Id: 0419042226

Why reinforced earth is important in Bangladesh perspective?

Reinforced earth is a system which artificial reinforcing is done to improve different properties of soil
like strength, friction and adhesion. It is formed by the friction between earth and the reinforcement. By
means of friction soil transfers the forces to the reinforcement built up in the earth mass. When the soil
does not possess sufficient design strength requirements then soil is reinforced. This reinforcing is done
different types of materials depending upon soil’s characteristics. Common types of reinforcing
materials are- metal strips, geogrid, geotextile, jute textile, cement stabilization, lime stabilization, stone
column, soil nailing, anchor wall, sheet pile etc.

In Bangladesh context reinforced earth system covers much importance. Numerous advantages can be
extracted by using the reinforced soil technique. The reinforced soil can stabilize unstable slopes, retain
soil on steep slopes and under crest load. The main advantage is the ease of installation and quick
construction process. They do not require any formwork, facing or temporary structures hence reducing
the cost of the construction. In Bangladesh where land is minimum the soil reinforcement is effective.
The developing of new roads, National Highway, bridges, tunnels, offshore structures, retaining wall
construction etc. depends largely on soil strength parameters. To construct these structures it is often
encountered that the soil cannot bear the loads and the slope of the soil was not stable as required. So,
in that case the soil needs to be reinforced. There are some regions in Bangladesh like- Chittagong hill
tracts, Bandar ban, Rangamati and Cox’s bazar where slope of the soil needs to be stable. The stability
can be done by reinforcing the slope.

In roadway construction the slope of the soil is kept steep as possible because steep slope requires less
land area. In order to construct steep slope reinforcing the soil is necessary. This reinforcing can be
done by geotextile, jute textile, vegetation etc. So, without reinforcing the soil it could not be possible
to construct steep slopes which signifies the importance of reinforced earth system in Bangladesh
perspective.

In Bangladesh numerous bridges, flyover is now in construction. Many earthworks, cutting, backfilling,
anchoring is involved in construction. To construct bridge or flyover approach road or leave road
Nehemiah wall is constructed to stabilized the backfill soil so that the acquired land will be less.
Nehemiah is a type of mechanically stabilized backfill structure where the stress is transfer from backfill
to the reinforcement. The reinforcement used are steel bars and precast concrete blocks. which is a
reinforced earth system. The wall retains and compact the base soil. The compacted soil base can give
sufficient bearing capacity.
There are some hill tracts regions in Bangladesh where hill slopes are unstable and tend to slide down.
When excessive rainfall occurs or unsafe earth cutting is done and other reasons causes severe landslide.
This hazardous event damages life and properties. These hazardous events can be minimized by
reinforcing the slope. Soil nailing, geogrid, geosynthetics and vegetation reinforcing technique are done
to stabilize the slope.

Reinforced earth also improves the bearing capacity of soil. Where the soil has low bearing capacity
and high settlement susceptibility reinforcing is done to improve its strength. Stone column, Lime
stabilization, Cement stabilization, micro pile, sand drains are some of the techniques to improve the
bearing capacity of the soil. By improving the bearing capacity of the soil settlement also reduced.

In construction of MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), Metro rail project uses soil reinforcing technique to retain
the backfill. Underground tunneling work, retaining structure, anchoring is now constructed easily
through the application of reinforcing earth.

From Bangladesh perspective reinforcing the soil has numerous advantages. It reduces cost of the
construction, saves time, minimum traffic disturbance through the construction process, less
workmanship involvement also makes this technique most efficient. In urban areas where land is scarce
this technique is most efficient. Without reinforced earth technique constructing structure by the side of
a river or sea could not possible. Presently, many research works are conducted regarding this
reinforcing technique. Many new applications have discovered to solve new construction problem. Now
new local materials are tested to reinforcing soil. In Bangladesh, development in construction and soil
retaining technique would not be possible without reinforced earth.