Reinforced Slopes

Reinforced slopes provide an effective and economical way of constructing steep slopes using natural materials. The photographs below illustrate examples of reinforced slopes during and after construction in (top-bottom) Taiwan, the United States, and New Zealand.

Concern about the performance of reinforced slopes during earthquakes has restricted their heights or banned their use in many seismically active areas of the world. Because the performance of such slopes is so closely related to the permanent displacements they undergo during earthquakes, practical procedures for estimating such displacements are needed to allow the benefits of these slopes to be fully realized.