Method for manufacturing panels for earth retaining wall employing geosynthetic strips

A method for manufacturing a concrete panel for a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall that is reinforced with a geosynthetic strip, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a mold for the concrete panel, the mold defining a body of the panel;
• (b) providing the following in the mold:
• (1) a plastic pipe with a longitudinal body and generally circular periphery;
• (2) a metal rod extending through the plastic pipe;
• (3) a removable concrete block-out insert that creates a geosynthetic strip cavity within the panel body around the periphery of the pipe and along a part of the longitudinal body sufficiently wide for receiving a geosynthetic strip, the cavity enabling a geosynthetic strip to be looped around the pipe;
• (c) introducing concrete into the mold;
• (d) permitting the concrete to substantially solidity within the mold;
• and
• (e) after the concrete has substantially solidified, separating the panel from the mold and removing the block-out insert to expose the cavity and the pipe extending through the cavity.

A method for producing a concrete panel for a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall that is reinforced with a geosynthetic strip:

• (a) wherein the concrete panel comprises:
• (1) a concrete panel, the panel having a generally planar body with a frontside, a backside, and a surrounding peripheral edge, the panel having a cavity extending from the backside into the body;
• (2) a plastic pipe having an elongated body extending between first and second ends, the plastic pipe situated within the body of the panel in a position so that the elongated body of the pipe is generally horizontal from a front elevation view vantage point of the panel and is generally parallel with the backside of the panel from a top view vantage point of the panel, the elongated body extending through the cavity, the first and second ends residing within the concrete panel;
• and
• (3) a metal rod having an elongated body extending between first and second ends, the rod situated inside of the pipe;
• and
• (b) wherein the method comprising the steps of:
• (1) providing a mold for the concrete panel, the mold defining the body of the panel;
• (2) providing the following in the mold:
• (i) the pipe;
• (ii) the rod extending through the pipe;
• (iii) a removable concrete block-out insert that creates a geosynthetic strip cavity within the panel body around a periphery of the pipe and along a part of the elongated body sufficiently wide for receiving the geosynthetic strip, the cavity enabling the geosynthetic strip to be looped around the pipe;
• (3) introducing concrete into the mold;
• (4) permitting the concrete to substantially solidity within the mold;
• and
• (5) after the concrete has substantially solidified, separating the panel from the mold and removing the block-out insert to expose the cavity and the pipe extending through the cavity.