Short Course Title: Geosynthetic Reinforced Wall Structures including Seismic Aspects
Date and time: Sunday, 17th September 2023 – 9:00 am – 12:30 am
This course will be of interest to attendees who are not familiar with geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) walls, and those who wish to be updated on recent developments in the design of these systems for both static and earthquake loading conditions. The short course will be presented in three sections:
- Overview of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls. The history of GRS walls is briefly reviewed including important new construction methods and materials. The basic components of these systems are explained. The relatively higher sustainability of these systems over conventional earth retaining wall systems is highlighted.
- Design and analysis of GRS walls. External, global and internal design limit states are presented. The characterization of the mechanical properties of geosynthetic reinforcement materials is discussed and how these properties are determined from physical testing and used in internal stability design and analysis is demonstrated. The new stiffness method recently adopted in the US and Canada is explained. The essential features of emerging probabilistic methods of analysis are introduced.
- Seismic design: GRS walls have most often performed well during earthquake. Examples of their performance under seismic loading are given. The reasons for their good performance are explained and the design methods used to quantify the additional seismic-induced external and internal loading are discussed.
BIO
Dr. Bathurst is Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada where he has taught since 1980 and holds a cross-appointment at Queen’s University. He is a past-President of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Canadian Geotechnical Society, International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) and the North American Geosynthetics Society. Dr. Bathurst has authored or co-authored more than 200 journal papers and 250 other contributions. Dr. Bathurst is Editor-in-Chief of the IGS peer-reviewed technical journal Geosynthetics International and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Geomechanics, and the IGS journal Geotextiles and Geomembranes. He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. Dr. Bathurst was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2017, which is the highest academic honour in Canada. The “Richard Bathurst Lecture” was recently announced by the IGS in recognition of his lifetime contributions to the development of geosynthetic soil reinforcement technologies and the mission of the IGS. The lecture will be delivered at the 12th International Geosynthetics Conference in Rome.
