Pihise Airport is located in Siau Island, approximately 155km North of Manado, North Sulawesi. The proposed project consists of 1.4km runway construction and another 1.8km extension for further future development. GCS was engaged as a geotechnical designer to provide a design for a proposed Terramesh® reinforced soil structure ranging between 31.5m to 35.5m in height (RSS). An additional 10.0m of fill embankment was placed above the structure at a slope angle of 1V:3H. Due to the extensive foundation excavation for the structure to achieve sufficient bearing capacity, the total supported slope height extended to approx. 52.0m in height with a 60° batter. Due to the extreme height, Paralink™ 300 high strength geogrid was required as soil reinforcement. Finite element and limit equilibrium analyses were performed to verify several critical design sections including a sensitivity check on key design parameters. A technical paper is being presented at the International Conference on “Landslides and Slope Stability” in Bali, Indonesia on 25 – 27th September 2019.
