Design experiences of MSE structures under complex conditions in a highway project

Abstract

The design and construction of Mechanically Stabilized Walls (MSE) have had a great boom in Guatemala in recent years. Central America’s largest private infrastructure road project has required the construction of more than 30,000 m2 of MSE structures under extreme seismic, topographical, and hydrological conditions. Considering that Guatemala has been a country with very high seismicity and the project being on a good percentage of slopes on the margins of a river, made both the design and construction of the project face great challenges. The project consists of tier walls, walls with upper slopes, walls supported on extremely steep slopes and walls with heights that can reach more than 20 meters. Many of these structures have critical hydraulic and global stability conditions. There are three case studies of walls, that by their complexity deserve to be considered for further study and from which there are many lessons for the future use of mechanically stabilized structures in the face of complex conditions.