This Webinar is aimed at presenting and discussing tieback walls and soil nailing. It is backed by over 50-year experience from methods used in many countries in Europe, Far-East, North and South America. This presentation lecture will address three main topics. The first will be a quick review of gravity and concrete walls. The second is steel (Terre Armée) and geosynthetic reinforced walls; the third will discuss ground anchors, bolts and nails. The course is tailored to engineers, geologists, and undergraduate and research students interested in slope stabilisation. Highway engineers in mountainous regions will find it very helpful, as the course will give them many hints on how to deal with slopes. The section on alarm systems is also suited to emergency crews and city planners involved in landslide problems and how to reduce risks. This webinar embeds over 50 years of slope stabilisation experience from GeoRio, the Rio de Janeiro slope safety organization, a city which has severely suffered from landslides triggered by rainfall. In 1967, the city of Rio started a risk reduction program based on stabilization works, and city planning and more recently installed a rather sophisticated alarm system. In 1999, Dr A. Ortigao, then an associate professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, led a team of specialists that wrote the Slope Engineering Manual for Rio de Janeiro. This book is an engineering guide for designing slopes and stabilization works in rocks and residual soils, especially for regions subjected to landslips triggered by heavy rainfall. The authors’ purpose is to present concise documentation on how to design slopes and how to select a slope stabilization method. Its main focus is engineering, rather than geology and site investigation, which are covered by many other works. The chapter on instrumentation presents a unique discussion on how to set up a rainstorm alarm system. This presentation is part of the Slope Course series which is based on the Handbook of slope stabilization, a copy of which will be made available to the participants

Date: Thursday | June 26, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET

Credits: 2 PDH Units

Learning Objectives

At the successful conclusion of this webinar, you will have the following knowledge and skills:

• What are the wall failure types;
• How to select the wall solution (gravity, concrete, gabion, geosynthetic reinforced, use of scrap tyres)
• Types of geosynthetics and functions;
• Different types of reinforced walls: Terre Armée, geosynthetics, Terramesh;
• Alternative wall-facing types;
• Recommendations for wall drainage;
• What are the differences between soil anchors, bolts and nails?
• Threaded bars vs. concrete reinforcement bars
• Manchete valves & spacers
• Grouting and post-grouting techniques
• Corrosion protection
• Grout and grease quality control
• Temporary and permanent ground anchors
• FRP nails
• Pull-out tests
• Nail friction

Special Webinar Instructions

After payment, please visit this webinar page, click “Start Course” and fill out the Webinar Registration Form.  You’ll receive email notification and details on how to join the webinar.  You will then be able to access the webinar slides, test your system and receive webinar reminders.  After completing the webinar requirements, your certificate of completion will be saved and available for download in your profile. We value your feedback! Please rate this webinar after completion.

Group Discounts Available

About the lecturer

Alberto Ortigao, PhD, FICE, CEng. PE is a senior geotechnical consultant with over 50 years of experience in a variety of projects from tailings and water dams, slopes, embankments, foundations, excavations structures and tunnels. He is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of the Institute of Civil Engineering, London and PE in the US. He received his first degree in Civil Engineering in 1971 from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), followed by a PhD in 1980. From 1978 to 2003 he was an academic at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. From 1982 to 1984 he was a researcher on offshore foundations at the Building Research Establishment, UK, followed by work on offshore foundation design at Fugro UK Ltd. He has been a Visiting Professor at the following universities: UBC University of British Columbia, Canada, City University of Hong Kong and University of Western Sydney, Australia. He worked in several countries including the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and all South American countries. This is a results of his language skills: English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and some French. He authored over one hundred technical papers and a textbook “Soil mechanics in the light of critical state theories” by Balkema in 1995 and, in 2004, the Handbook of slope stabilization by Springer Verlag, Heidelberg.