Quays and jetties

Reinforced Earth offers various stand-alone or combined solutions for building quays, jetties and other infrastructure built in or around navigable waters.

Designing and building these structures require a very high level of detail to maintain safe and open passage and docking for vessels, and uninterrupted port operations. Our solutions are designed to ensure protection and long-term stability of ground surfaces and built formations that are vulnerable to the effects of erosion and scour caused by storm waves, natural currents and the influences of active waterways, ports, canals and industrial operations.

Building quays and jetties using retaining walls

Reinforced Earth®

Reinforced Earth’s mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall solutions (MSE) are widely used for the construction of hydraulic structures as part of ports, harbors, coastal and river infrastructure. Our technical teams have decades of experience designing and arranging the supply of soil stabilization and retention systems in hydraulic environments. To start, by specifying a Reinforced Earth® solution, builders discover a rapid, economical and reliable means for building resilient hydraulic infrastructure.

The flexibility of MSE and Reinforced Earth derivatives allow engineers to develop bespoke solutions that accommodate site constraints and complex project specifics. We design using geosynthetics, steel and composites to reinforce soils and concrete used to build structures in both fresh water and saltwater environments.

TechWall™

For building in restrictive and sensitive environments, common to coastal and navigable waterways, this precast concrete counterfort retaining wall is assembled in or outside of water using full-height, narrowly placed thin units. Because the TechWall™ counterforts are optimally reinforced, the moments in the facing panels are minimized, resulting in thin, full-height concrete facing panels that are structurally attached to a site-specific pour-in-place footing. TechWall™ is pre-engineered and prefabricated to ensure quick installation and straightforward handling and finishing for builders.

T-Wall®

This well established and highly durable precast concrete modular “T”-shaped gravity wall is an excellent solution to build in aquatic settings. The solution is adaptable to support heavy dynamic loads, for instance loading and unloading for shipping and receiving operations. Requiring an overall lower backfill volume as compared to other modular wall alternatives, cost savings are assured. The potential to use onsite soils, as well as recycled and lightweight fill materials as backfill adds to the T-Wall® advantage.

Protecting and maintaining shorelines with geosynthetics

Maintaining or nourishing a depleting coastal landscape is possible by installing tailored solutions perpendicular to shorelines to create remediating jetties. Reinforced Earth® and stabilized fill arrangements disrupt longshore currents and accumulate sediment flow, which in turn sustains the existing coastline levels.

In addition, Reinforced Earth’s  line of geosynthetic materials for coastal defense and embankment protection are proven to mitigate subgrade strength loss, sediment erosion, filtration and drainage. These solutions can be installed either singularly or in combination with other engineered solutions that we offer, including:

• High-strength biaxial and uniaxial geogrids
• Woven and non-woven geotextiles
• Drainage geocomposites
• Geotextile tubes
• Geosynthetic clay liners
• Cellular soil confinement systems
• Form concrete mattresses
• Articulated concrete block mattresses

Our engineers work with developers to specify eco-friendly materials that adapt to the marine environment and that will attract fresh aquatic plant and animal life.