ARAMEX DUBAI LOGISTIC CITY FACILITY EXPANSION

In the proposed plot for expansion facilities, there exists a level difference of 8m along a length of 500m that necessitated the planning of nearly vertical retaining walls, restricted by parking areas required at heel side and a drive way at top retained side. The driveway above the retaining wall is expected to have high traffic load @ 50KPa due to the heavy logistics of Aramex Cargo facility. Due to the proximity of the project location to the recent earthquakes in the region with epicenter at Iran, the retaining walls has to be significantly seismic resilient. The building structures and the roads were designed for a design life of 100 years; hence the retaining wall should have an design life of minimum 100 years. The gravity retaining walls using 35,000 pieces of gabion units requiring approximately 8,800cum of stones. The project is a fast track type that requires the whole construction to be completed in less than one year.

As a solution to the major problems highlighted in previous sections, the Contractor proposed to the ‘client & consultant’, the Maccaferri ParaMesh System type reinforced soil retaining all. As the proposed system will achieve the same final stone finish looks like a gabion wall in additional to other benefits, the client approved the proposal of changing the tender solution of retaining walls from gravity gabion type to ParaMesh Reinforced Soil Wall type. Accordingly, Maccaferri was subcontracted for design, supply and construction supervision assistance f the 4m- 8m high and 500m long retaining wall for this project. Typically, ParaMesh is a composite soil reinforcement system with different types of soil reinforcement used.