| This research project compared costs for three retaining wall designs, two would be constructed with reinforced concrete and the third would incorporate a segmental retaining wall system (SRW) reinforced with geosynthetic products. A portion of the design criteria was established through the use of proprietary design software such as Retain Pro 5.0 and Anchor Wall 2.5, and the design tables of the 1998 Concrete Reinforcing Steel Association (CRSI). Other forms of design guidance used by each retaining wall system came from the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Code 318-95, the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) 1993 Design Manual for Segmental Retaining Walls, and the 1994 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) fifteenth edition of the Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges.; The intent of this investigation was to develop retaining wall designs for three wall heights on the basis of the three design systems previously mentioned. Each design was priced for construction in Louisville, Kentucky based upon the 1999 RS Means Building Construction Cost Data and from material prices provided by local geosynthetic distributors. This evaluation was performed for retained material heights of 10 ft., 20 ft., and 30 ft. with wall lengths of 100 ft., 200 ft., and 300 ft., respectively. Soil and material design parameters remained the same for all designs where applicable, to ensure a consistent analysis was performed. |
