WEBINAR – Design and Construction of Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Retaining Structures

The design, construction and long-term stability monitoring of MSE walls continues to evolve as designers, researchers and specifiers push the leading edge of the technology and use more advanced geosynthetic materials and systems.

At present, MSE walls represent more than half of all retaining walls used for transportation applications. MSE walls can offer some fairly significant advantages for the construction of transportation infrastructure. They are used to reduce or eliminate the need for the improvement of poor foundations where piles, caissons or other soils stabilization techniques would be required for the use of conventional reinforced concrete retaining walls. They are most commonly used as cost-effective solutions where the cost of fill, right-of-way or other restrictions require a steeper slope than is practically possible.

There are many type of MSE wall types categorized by the geometry of the reinforcement, mechanism used to transfer stress, the type of reinforcement material (metallic or non-metallic) and the type and geometry of the wall facing.

This webinar provides a basic understanding of the type of MSE walls, their primary uses, key factors in their design and lessons learned from construction. A series of case studies provides the “good” the “bad” and the “ugly” experiences with the use of MSE walls along with key lessons learned for their long-term success.

The learning objectives for this webinar include:

Recognize potential MSE wall applications for transportation facilities
Understand the primary design considerations and select appropriate parameters for design
To be able to check contractor submitted designs for MSE walls
Select appropriate specification and contracting methods
Identify appropriate construction inspection activities to confirm compliance with design

Instructor: David K. Hein, P.Eng.

David Hein is a consulting Civil Engineer with over 35 years of experience in the design, evaluation and management of pavement infrastructure. He recently retired from Applied Research Associates, Inc. of Toronto, Ontario. He is the past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers Transportation and Development Institute, long term member of the Transportation Association of Canada and has represented Canada on the World Road Association pavements and asset management committees since 2002. He has been involved in numerous national and international projects including many of the public/private/ partnership highway construction projects across Canada and the United States. Mr. Hein has completed numerous pavement design, evaluation and management projects throughout British Columbia including both design and management of the Sea to Sky Highway and is a regular instructor completing specialty design, construction and maintenance courses for the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation.