Slope Rehabilitation, Ten-Ren Temple, Miaoli, Taiwan

To achieve an ideal leisure living environment, and at the same time prevent slope landslides caused by torrential rain, determining how to conserve soil and water as well as provide a proper drainage system became a very important task for the Miaoli County Government.

The slope at the site was unstable and the drainage system also has been improperly installed. Therefore, every time torrential rain fell, it caused landslides endangering the buildings and safety of nearby residents.

Based on a careful evaluation, the designer introduced a 2-stage mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall combined with vegetative facing. The total height of the wall was approximately 13 m. The two reinforcing materials applied were ACEGrid^® geogrid GG150-I and GG200-I. In addition, the horizontal and vertical drainage system was built to drain the water properly to the detention pond, thereby preventing flooding and hydraulic destructions. The detention pond also can be served for irrigation and scenery later.

The project not only successfully minimized the uses of materials and construction time, but also greatly reduced carbon emission. As a result, a sound retaining structure with durability and aesthetic green landscape was built. A few months after the completion of the project, the area was affected by numerous typhoons and torrential rains. Nevertheless, the MSE wall and drainage system remained in good condition.