Mechanically stabilized earth

The wall face is often of precast, segmental blocks, panels or geocells that can tolerate some differential movement.

In many types of MSE’s, each vertical fascia row is inset, thereby providing individual cells that can be infilled with topsoil and planted with vegetation to create a green wall.

They do not require formwork or curing and each layer is structurally sound as it is laid, reducing the need for support, scaffolding or cranes.

In addition to the flexibility of MSE walls in design and construction, seismic testing conducted on a large scale shaking table laboratory at the Japan National Institute of Agricultural Engineering (Tsukuba City), showed that modular block reinforced walls,[3] and even more so geocell retention walls,[4] retain sufficient flexibility to withstand large deformations without loss of structural integrity, and have high seismic load resistance.

Using straw, sticks, and branches to reinforce adobe bricks and mud dwellings has happened since the earliest part of human history, Parts of the Great Wall of China are formed as reinforced soil as are the ziggurats of the Middle East.

Bell and Steward (1977) describe some of these early applications, which were primarily geotextile wrapped-face walls supporting logging roads in the northwestern United States.

Reinforcement placed in horizontal layers throughout the height of the wall provides the tensile strength to hold the soil together.