Construction of Reinforced Earth® Wall Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal

Project Details

OWNER

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal – CAAN

SYSTEM

Reinforced Earth® Wall

DESIGNER

Geoquest India (formerly known as Reinforced Earth India Pvt. Ltd.)

WALL LENGTH

1074 m

CONSTRUCTION

2025

Background

 Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) is presently an international airport having highest international air traffic in Nepal. The airport has been facing heavy congestion with busy runways and limited space for aircraft parking. Therefore, the expansion of the airport is underway. Being a very old airport, the existing runway in TIA does not maintain the minimum distance requirement from the parallel taxiway as per the latest norms of Civil Aviation Authority. Hence the taxiway needs to be moved towards the boundary of the airport. The level difference between the taxiway and the boundary of the airport varies from 9m up to 25m. Therefore, while moving the taxiway towards the boundary of the airport, there is a requirement of constructing a retaining structure so that the cargo area doesn’t get affected.

Salient Features

  • Tall retaining structure with a minimum requirement of base width.
  • DraintubeTM multi linear geocomposite drain used as sub surface drainage & drainage gallery behind the concrete facia panels.
  • TerraLine® was used as geosynthetic clay liner to create an impermeable layer at each level of berm.
  • Rapid construction with premium engineering quality.
  • Compressible panels to enhance flexibility of the wall.
  • TerraDrain® was used as horizontal geocomposite drainage at each level of berm as a seamless drainage bay.

Solution

 Geoquest India has designed a Precast facing Reinforced Earth® Wall of height 25m with internally stabilized soil mass, built in layers, duly compacted with specificfilly requirements with 50mm wide High Adherence GeoStrap® at top three layers and 50mm & 70mm wide smooth GeoStrap® coated with Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) as soil reinforcing structural elements of designated grades and design strengths connected through Geocore mechanical connection. Being tall structure, special compressible panels have been used to allow enhanced flexibility in the wall.