fabric reinforced earth walls: development of design equations

the use of fabric as a reinforcing element for reinforced earth retaining structures is potentially attractive in view of its low cost, light weight and good durability. a few reinforced earth walls have been actually constructed using fabric but these have been mainly for experimental purposes. current design methods for reinforced earth structures take no account of the magnitude of the strains induced in the tensile members as these are invariably manufactured from high modulus materials - such as steel - where strains are unlikely to be significant. with fabrics, however, large strains may frequently be induced and it is important to determine these to enable the suitability of the structure to be assessed. in this report design equations relating to the use of fabric in the reinforced earth application are developed. these equations take account of conventional force-equilibrium considerations as well as the influence of strain behaviour of the fabric. in addition, a procedure is outlined for specifying the strength characteristics of fabric which may provide a more convenient method for incorporating the fabric properties into the design equations.(a)