Sustainability Assessment of Earth-Retaining Wall Structures

Dear Colleagues,

Historically, final solutions for civil engineering projects have been optimized based on minimum costs and maximum functionality while satisfying acceptable margins of safety. Examples of civil engineering works are buildings, pavements, bridges, foundations, and earth-retaining walls, to name only a few. Furthermore, sustainability criteria as an integral part of civil engineering design decision making are becoming more common, including geotechnical engineering projects. Sustainability and sustainable development include the capacity to carry out an activity (such as manufacturing or constructing a product or structure) with minimal or no environmental impact. However, more broadly defined, sustainability is related to satisfying three sets of requirements (pillars) based on environmental, economic and societal/functional criteria. Sustainability objectives can vary between project types and within different categories due to differences in costs of materials, construction and maintenance, environmental and societal impacts, etc. Sustainable design involves finding a satisfactory balance between these competing objectives. A key feature of sustainable design is a structure or project lifetime “cradle-to-grave” perspective, although “cradle-to-operation” or “cradle-to-gate” are also common.

Earth retaining walls (ERWs) are ubiquitous in the civil engineering landscape. Many different types of wall solutions are available to designers, with advantages and disadvantages depending on the application. Design methodologies for these structures are well-established and proven. ERWs can be broadly classified into conventional (cantilever and gravity) and mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) categories. However, there are other (even particular-specific) different wall types that can be designed to perform the same function. The use of new structural materials and construction processes to optimize ERW systems, as well as the use of marginal fills as well as recycled materials as backfill, are key topics of interest in the field.

Dr. Ivan P. Damians
Dr. Oliver Detert
Guest Editors

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• sustainability assessment of special retaining wall and bridge abutment cases
• sustainable geotechnics and carbon footprint of retaining earth structures
• recycled and amended marginal backfills
• geosynthetics
• construction waste recycled materials as MSE backfill
• MSE walls under extreme conditions
• advancements, developments and state of the sustainable design practice