How Does Geogrid Work on Curves and Corners?

If you are building a reinforced retaining wall, there is a good chance you will have either curves or corners in your design.  How do you maintain the reinforced soil when building curves or corners? 

When building curves, the geogrid reinforcement needs to cover 100% of the curve. If it is an inside curve, the grid will be placed around the curve with gaps in between - the gaps will be filled in with grid on the next course.

For outside curves, the grid will be placed all on the same course, overlapping in the curve.  Wall rock will need to be added between the overlapping portions of the grid, so the pieces of grid don’t rub together.

For inside corners, the reinforcement grid needs to extend past the corner in each direction on alternate courses for stability the corner. 

For outside corners, the grid is simply rolled out along the wall in one direction on one course and in the other direction on the next.  While the concepts are pretty simple you will want to make sure you install correctly as corners are usually the most susceptible to sagging or wall failure. Best Practices for Segmental Retaining Walls gives detailed information on how to handle proper gridding of corners and curves.

 To be sure you get it down just right – read all about it in the Allan Block Installation Guide.