Gabion Retaining Walls

Gabion Retaining Walls

Gabion retaining walls provide stability by their mass, resisting the disturbing forces.

Gabion retaining walls are considered to be a flexible and free draining system. The design procedures for gabion walling follows the design criteria of BS8002 - The Code of Conduct for Earth Retaining Structures.

When designing mass gravity retaining walls, design checks must be carried out at each course level to ensure that the stability criteria is achieved throughout the structure. It is normal to incline the walls from the vertical by 6 or 10 degrees for aesthetic and stability reasons.

The degree of inclination is a maximum of 6 degrees for the Gabion 39 System and 10 degrees for the Gabion 27 System. The walls can either be stepped or flushed face.

The degree of flexibility of a gabion retaining wall is dependant upon the type of fill, quality of filling, mesh type and wire diameter of the mesh.

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Typically, the more angular the fill, the greater care in filling and the heavier the wire diameter of the mesh - the higher the quality of installation. This results in a more dimensionally stable structure.

The Gabion 27 System is the preferred type of products for these structures.

For mass gravity retaining walls along water courses where flexibility is required, the preferable gabion type is a gabion manufactured from double twist woven hexagonal mesh.