PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR GABION FACED REINFORCED SOIL WALL IN A COLD, SNOWY ENVIRONMENT USING PERMEABLE HEAT INSULATING MATERIALS

Abstract

In cold, snowy regions, gabion work has been often done as emergency or restoration measures against surface layer failures of cut slopes arising from frost heaving or freezing-thawing. There has been developed a reinforced soil wall that has gabions as walls and is reinforced with woven metallic wires integrated with the gabions. This reinforced soil wall is expected to become popular as a reinforced soil wall suited for the cold regions, due to the high degree of drainage and following capability of the gabions. By constructing the gabion faced reinforced soil wall in a cold, snowy region, this study has conducted a performance evaluation of the reinforced soil wall using permeable heat insulating materials in the cold, snowy environment.