【正文】
s made from plastic) fastened to the facing unit and extending into the backfill some distance. Vidal used only metal strips. ③ facing unit—not necessary but usually used to maintain appearance and to avoid soil erosion between the reinforcements. These three ponents are bined to form a wall whose side view is shown in . When wire mesh or other reinforcement with discontinuities (grid voids) is used, apportion may be bent , similar to the sheet of , to form a facing unit. Gridtype reinforcements strengthen the soil through a bination of friction and passive pressure pullout resistance. The bentup portion used as a facing piece provides some erosion control until the wall is pleted. The exposed reinforcements are usually sprayed with concrete mortar or gunite ( matrial similar to mortar) in lifts to produce a thickness on the order of 150 to 200 mm. this is both improve the appearance and to control erosion. For metals this covering also helps control rust, and for geotextiles it provides protection from the ultraviolet rays in sunlight and discourages vandalism. The basic principle of reinforce