Date of Award:

5-2009

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

James A. Bay

Committee

James A. Bay

Committee

Marv W. Halling

Committee

Loren R. Anderson

Abstract

A large component of the State of Utah's transportation network involves the use of MSE walls, which have proven useful in infrastructure for their reduced costs and footprint compared to other alternatives. As effective as MSE walls have been in responding to demands in transportation, they also have inherent challenges. For the majority of MSE walls the structure is limited in observation as structural components are buried as part of the soils mass. This inability to observe at can lead to the development of complex failure mechanisms, which can be difficult to assess and anticipate. As society becomes increasingly reliant on the transportation networks for goods, services, and security, properly understanding the potential failure mechanisms of MSE walls also increases in importance.

This thesis discusses the development of an inspection procedure, data collection, geotechnical asset management database, and an evaluation of gathered information to be used in a reliability analysis of MSE walls for the State of Utah. The findings suggest areas of improvement in the design, specifications, maintenance, and further investigation of MSE walls.

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Comments

This work was revised and made publicly available electronically on July 26, 2011

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