Background Post and Initial Plan

This is the blog for Group 5 in Engineering 103, Section 85.  The group will be constructing a Geosynthetic Retaining Wall using paper as the main geosynthetic reinforcement.  The objective of the project is to hold back the greatest amount of sand while using the least amount of paper reinforcements.

Group members include:
Lauren Kujawa, Civil Engineering, lek44@drexel.edu
Tyler Wicker, Environmental Engineering, tcw53@drexel.edu
Salvatore Reamluto, Architectural Engineering, sjr86@drexel.edu
Christopher Gibson, Civil Engineering, cag332@drexel.edu
Gabriel Markowitz, Architectural Engineering, gdm39@drexel.edu

Short biographies of each group member will come in the future.

The materials for this lab module are minimal and all will be provided for us.  A box will be used as the main component of the retaining wall.  Paper will be used to create the reinforcements, and sand will be the material that will need to be retained.

Several ideas have been going through our minds on the ways the sand could be held back.  One idea is to layer paper.  It is believed that the shortest piece of paper will be on the bottom of the box.  As sand is being layered, the layers of paper will grow in length.  The paper will create friction to hold back the sand.  As the sand layers near the top of the box, the layers of paper will be the longest.  If this idea does not work, another idea is to have the longest piece of paper be on the bottom of the box.  It will be the same concept, only reversed.

Another idea is to have the paper restraints be in strips.  There will be one main piece of paper that holds back the sand, and that main piece will have the strips connected to it.

All of the previously stated ideas will be tested extensively in lab.  The design idea that results in the most successful retaining wall will be used as the final design.  In the final week of lab, a presentation on our findings will be given.  The final design of our wall will be showcased and tested in front of the class in the final week of lab.  The timeline for this project is 10 weeks.  A final report will summarize the full process of this lab and will state the results.