ISEC 10


SLOPE STABILIZATION USING LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE

HARSHIT VARMA, DARSHAN SHAH, DEEPAK SHARMA, SAAHIL WADHWANI


Abstract

Landslides still concern transportation agencies. In 2017, the Big Sur coastline roadway in Monterey, California was buried under a landslide that displaced over 6 million cubic yards of mud. Though slope stabilization techniques have been successfully used in the past, the Big Sur landslide has highlighted the necessity for innovation. Through this paper, a new slope stabilization technique is proposed using Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) pins, used tires and vetiver grass. The paper includes a comparison of a retaining wall (a traditional slope stability alternative) with the proposed new technique. This includes stability analyses considering traditional and the proposed method. The analysis includes checking for overturning, sliding and bearing capacity failure for retaining wall and slope stability analysis for the proposed slope stabilization. The paper also includes cost comparison between the two alternatives. The results indicate that the proposed technique is stable and very comparable to traditional methods. Because the method uses waste material the proposed method costs significantly less than traditional approaches.

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