Reinforcement of Runway Embankment by Using Geosynthetics in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Being a country of 17.504 islands, Indonesia needs a lot of airports in reaching out to its remote islands to provide people and goods mobility. Some of these airports have to be built on hilly terrains which require massive cut and fill operations resulting in high man-made slopes. Very often some sort of reinforcement is required to build a stable high slope. Considering Indonesia lies in a high seismicity area, the flexible nature of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures or mechanically stabilized earth walls is preferable to rigid concrete retaining wall system. This article elaborates on the challenging geotechnical problems of building 15–37 m high slopes on clay shale formation. It discusses the strength degradation of the clay shale, the design aspects, and the construction process of the geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes.