The Computerised design of reinforced soil structures

This technical note describes the suite of programs, developed by Netlon Ltd, to enable the rapid design of reinforced soil embankments, retaining walls, and pavements. The software is quick and easy to use, and provides rigorous safety assurance and economical designs. It uses two main programs, Winslope and Winwall, to design reinforced slopes and walls. Winslope is a slope stability analysis program, which uses the simplified methods of Bishop and Janbu to analyse circular and non-circular surfaces. Its users can draw a structure's geometry on the screen, and assign external loads and soil properties to different parts of the structure. Grid layout and geometry can be modified rapidly, and reanalysed to optimise the design. Winwall designs vertical retaining walls and steep embankments, and facilitates designs using a tie-back wedge approach. Both programs have been updated continually, with advancing computer technology, and now use object-oriented programming techniques, and run under Windows. They have also been used to explore the potential of new design methods. The introduction of Department of Transport (DOT) Technical Report HA68/94 led to an additional design module in Winwall. The note describes the module's development, and the benefits of computerising HA68/94's design approach.