PERFORMANCE OF FILLER MATERIAL IN GABIONS

Kotish N

Department Of Civil and Environmental Engineering,

JAIN (Deemed-to-be-university) Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Abstract — Gabions makeup exist constructed utilizing ground qualification techniques. Ground Modification refers to a
diversified of method that improve the science of applying power to use characteristic of the ground being behave
towards. The basic properties involve cut strength, inflexibility and permeability. Ground qualification techniques
bettering bear developed into a usually second hand tool to support established institution for a type of structures.
When a inclusive plan, that involve allowances for the type of ground essential nature changed and the surrounding
building, happen designed and well formally put to death; two together time and currency accepted as exchange for
goods maybe saved. Ground qualification method are machinelike qualification hydraulic qualification, concerning the
body and chemical qualification and in addition to modification by addition and restriction may exist caused by internal
addition” or extrinsic formwork or supports.

INTRODUCTION
A gabion is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering,
road building, military applications and landscaping. For erosion control, caged riprap is used. For dams or in
foundation construction, cylindrical metal structures are used. In a military context, earth- or sand-filled gabions are
used to protect sappers, infantry, and artillerymen from enemy fire.
The most common civil engineering use of gabions was refined and patented by Gaetano Maccaferri in the late 19th
century in Sacerno, Emilia Romagna and used to stabilize shorelines, stream banks or slopes against erosion. Other
uses include retaining walls, noise barriers, temporary flood walls, silt filtration from runoff, for small or
temporary/permanent dams, river training, or channel lining. They may be used to direct the force of a flow of flood
water around a vulnerable structure.
A gabion wall is a retaining wall made of stacked stone-filled gabions tied together with wire. Gabion walls are usually
battered (angled back towards the slope), or stepped back with the slope, rather than stacked vertically.
The life expectancy of gabions depends on the lifespan of the wire, not on the contents of the basket. The structure
will fail when the wire fails. Galvanized steel wire is most common, but PVC-coated and stainless steel wire are also
used. PVC-coated galvanized gabions have been estimated to survive for 60 years. Some gabion manufacturers
guarantee a structural consistency of 50 years.

The Advantages of Gabion Elements

The main advantages of gabion elements are:
a. Flexibility: Gabion elements constitute a convenient solution for soils with a high settlement and swelling potential.
Flexible gabion elements do not crack and are not affected by the earthquake such as gravity retaining walls.
b. Permeability: Gabion elements do not require an additional drainage system because of the gaps between filling
materials.
c. Permeability of gabion elements
d. Economical: Shipping costs of gabion elements are lower due to the ease packing. Assembling the net mesh does
not require qualified labor, and therefore, the labor costs are low. Filling material can easily be provided from a quarry
close to worksite. Maintenance costs of gabion elements are extremely low.
e. Eco-friendly: Gabion elements are environmentally compatible. The gaps in the soil between filling materials allow
the plantation to grow over time. Gabion elements are not affected by natural phenomena.
f. Esthetical: In architecture gabion elements are used for indoor and outdoor arrangements. Gabion elements have a
natural outlook.
Application of Sand fill Cylindrical Gabion for Erosion / Flood control
The cylindrical Gabion lined with Geotextile material is a containment system, which is used for filling dry sand as filler
material and placing in position. These are used for preparation of foundation base for the structures, which are not
easily accessible, and most of the times under water. The containment system comes handy where availability of
stone is less, where sand is available for filling. This system works as a composite system and helps in the areas
where velocity of water is relatively high and Geotextile bags alone would not be able to withstand the shear stresses
induced by the water on the system components.

The components are made of mechanically woven hexagonal shaped double twisted (DT) galvanized and PVC
coated wire mesh cylindrical gabion lined with Non-Woven Geotextile materials used for applications in retaining
wall/Scour protection works/river training works/Bank protection works/underwater placement/erosion control works.

The DT wire mesh cylindrical gabion shall be a cylindrical basket made up of mechanically woven hexagonal DT wire
mesh and Geotextile as lining material to act as a containment system for sand or any other appropriate fill material.
The steel wire shall be heavily zinc coated soft temper steel. APVC coating shall be applied to provide added
protection for durability and for use in aggressive environments. In order to reinforce the structure of the system, all
mesh panel edges are selvedge with a wire having a greater diameter.
Cylindrical gabion shall be supplied with steel reinforcing wires inserted during the manufacturing process to facilitate
closing during installation. The top opening of the inner Geotextile lining material shall be stitched at site post filling
of the containment system with sand or appropriate material. The hexagonal shape of the mesh provides a better
distribution of the working tensions along the wires that form the mesh.

Feasible ways to fill Gabion Baskets

Old bricks and blocks
These are a great option for filling gabion baskets very cheaply. You may be able to buy these for a cheap price from
local constructions companies or building sites (as they may have broken bricks or deliveries they need to get rid of).
You can also find cheap bricks from local sellers on places like Facebook marketplace.

Old paving stones

If you’re re-doing your entire garden, then pulling up old paving stones (and then breaking them up into small pieces)
would allow you to easily and cheap fill you gabions baskets.

Outline with expensive stone then fill with cheaper ones

Another option to fill gabion baskets cheaply is by investing a little money in a small amount of higher priced stones
(for the outside layers that are visible) and then filling the middle with a cheaper stone or rubble. This is a great idea
as it keeps the aesthetic appearance in tact and still means your gabion baskets look great.

In garden and landscape design, fences filled with gabion stones (gabion fences) have been known for a long time
and are often used for a wide variety of design purposes. But also home and garden owners have discovered the
variety of creative possibilities to separate certain areas with gabions. The natural fence filled with gabion stones not
only offers a fascinating appearance, but also has many advantages over other fences or hedges.

For example, hedges require a lot of maintenance. They grow for many years until they have reached sufficient height
as a screen. Wood fences also require extensive maintenance, such as annual painting with wood preservative paints
and the like. Sound insulation is also lower for other fences, such as wooden ones, than for a gabion fence. As a
separation of areas, as an alternative to monotonous stone and concrete walls, as a border for rubbish bins, as sound
and sight protection, as planted garden sculptures, columns or raised beds, there are hardly any limits to the
imagination when using gabions.

Stones for Gabions - Overview of stone types

Gabion fillings can consist of granite, sand-lime brick, basalt, dolomite, gneiss, ornamental gravel, greywacke and
other types of stone. As a particularly creative element, glass chunks embedded in the gabion filling can set
fascinating accents. A short description of gabion filling material and the different types of stones for gabions:

Gabion stones granite - granite stones, elegant and noble. Granites are medium and coarse-grained deep rocks,
which as magmatic rocks are rich in coarse crystalline quartzes, dark minerals and feldspars. The gabion filling
granite is often used very often because of the versatile colors from light to dark grey with deep black speckles and
the high proportion of mica, which is especially beautiful in sunlight to see. This granite stone is also often used for the
gabion filling of raised beds or plant boxes made of gabions. In any case, gabion stone granite is an excellent choice
when it comes to house and garden.

Gabion stones limestone - sand-lime brick in warm colours. Gabions limestones regulate moisture and can store heat.
Due to the fine pores, hardly any moisture penetrates into the stones. Due to their high density, they offer very good
sound insulation qualities. The gabion filling material, "gabion limestone", is available with various surface structures,
such as smooth, embossed and rough.

Gabion stones Basalt stone - popular gabion filling material Basalt is a dark grey to black lava effusion rock, which
has the most frequent occurrence in the world. Basalt stones can have a smooth to large-pored appearance. As filling
stones, gabion stones made of basalt are very suitable for high and longer walls, gabion walls or also gabion fences
because the stone is cheap in comparison with other stones. Walls can, for example, be provided with striped or
chessboard patterns if gabion stones or basalt stones in different shades of grey are used.

Glass chunks, broken glass blocks - Glass stones for gabions. The glass chunks for gabions can be combined with
natural stones. The house number or whole name signatures, for example for companies, can be realised with the
illuminated glass chunks for gabions. Glass blocks for gabions also achieve impressive effects when the broken glass
blocks are used in illuminated columns or the like.

Performance of Gabian faced reinforced Earth retaining walls

Gabion faced retaining walls are essentially semi rigid structures that can generally accommodate large lateral and
vertical movements without excessive structural distress. Because of this inherent feature, they offer technical and
economical advantage over the conventional concrete gravity retaining walls. Although they can be constructed either
as gravity type or reinforced soil type, this work mainly deals with gabion faced reinforced earth walls as they are
more suitable to larger heights.

The main focus of the present investigation was the development of a viable plane strain two dimensional non linear
finite element analysis code which can predict the stress - strain behaviour of gabion faced retaining walls - both
gravity type and reinforced soil type. The gabion facing, backfill soil, In - situ soil and foundation soil were modelled
using 20 four noded isoparametric quadrilateral elements. The confinement provided by the gabion boxes was
converted into an induced apparent cohesion as per the membrane correction theory proposed by Henkel and Gilbert
(1952). The mesh reinforcement was modelled using 20 two noded linear truss elements. The interactions between
the soil and the mesh reinforcement as well as the facing and backfill were modelled using 20 four noded zero
thickness line interface elements (Desai et al., 1974) by incorporating the nonlinear hyperbolic formulation for the
tangential shear stiffness.

The well known hyperbolic formulation by Ouncan and Chang (1970) was used for modelling the non - linearity of the
soil matrix. The failure of soil matrix, gabion facing and the interfaces were modelled using Mohr - Coulomb failure
criterion. The construction stages were also modelled.Experimental investigations were conducted on small scale
model walls (both in field as well as in laboratory) to suggest an alternative fill material for the gabion faced retaining
walls. The same were also used to validate the finite element programme developed as a part of the study.
The studies were conducted using different types of gabion fill materials. The variation was achieved by placing
coarse aggregate and quarry dust in different proportions as layers one above the other or they were mixed together
in the required proportions. The deformation of the wall face was measured and the behaviour of the walls with the
variation of fill materials was analysed. It was seen that 25% of the fill material in gabions can be replaced by a soft
material (any locally available material) without affecting the deformation behaviour to large extents.

In circumstances where deformation can be allowed to some extents, even up to 50% replacement with soft material
can be possible.The developed finite element code was validated using experimental test results and other published
results. Encouraged by the close comparison between the theory and experiments, an extensive and systematic
parametric study was conducted, in order to gain a closer understanding of the behaviour of the system. Geometric
parameters as well as material parameters were varied to understand their effect on the behaviour of the walls.

The final phase of the study consisted of developing a simplified method for the design of gabion faced retaining
walls. The design was based on the limit state method considering both the stability and deformation criteria. The
design parameters were selected for the system and converted to dimensionless parameters. Thus the procedure for
fixing the dimensions of the wall was simplified by eliminating the conventional trial and error procedure.
Handy design charts were developed which would prove as a hands - on - tool to the design engineers at site.
Economic studies were also conducted to prove the cost effectiveness of the structures with respect to the
conventional RCC gravity walls and cost prediction models and cost breakdown ratios were proposed. The studies as
a whole are expected to contribute substantially to understand the actual behaviour of gabion faced retaining wall
systems with particular reference to the lateral deformations.

CONCLUSION
The use of natural materials in construction industry decreased significantly over the last decades. In the
construction industry and landscaping, industrial materials are preferred generally. However, the human eye and
natural habitat refuse industrial materials.

Gabion elements are preferred because of their flexibility, permeable nature, low costs, environmentally friendly and
aesthetically pleasing nature in replacement for gravity retaining walls. In today's technology, production of flexible
wires and the use of these wires up to 30-100 years without any deformation makes gabion elements indispensable.

For a green world, humanity needs the natural materials to enter our lives much more such as gabion elements.

REFERENCES
[1] ASTM A975-11, “Standard Specification for DoubleTwisted Hexagonal Mesh Gabions and Revet Mattresses
(Metallic-Coated Steel Wire or Metallic-Coated Steel Wire With Poly (Vinyl Chloride)(PVC) Coating)”, 2011
[2] C.W. Chen, A. Tang, “Evaluation of connection strength of geogrid to gabion wall”, Geotechnical Special
Publication No.220, pp 231-238, ASCE, 2011
[3] E. Uray ve Ö. Tan, “Gabion Tipi Dayanma Yapıları”, Broadcasts of Chamber of Civil Engineers Turkey
(TMMOB), pp 19-29, TMH- 485, 2015/2
[4] G.P. Giani, “Rock slopes stability analysis”, 347, Balkema, Rotterdam, Nethlands, 1992
[5] http://www.senbaymetal.com/urun.html, Web of Şenbay Metal, 2015
[6] P.M. Kandaris, “Use of gabions for localized slope stabilization in difficult terrain”, The 37th U.S. Symposium
on Rock Mechanics (USRMS), pp 1221-1227, Vail, Colarado, 1999.