Not surprisingly, MSE wall designers can become confused by the choices they
must make. The two types of MSE wall reinforcements, inextensible (steel) and
extensible (geosynthetic), behave differently. To obtain the required structure
performance and service life, designers must understand reinforcement behavior and
use the design method appropriate to each reinforcement type. The paragraphs below
discuss design methods and reinforcement behaviors, match the design method to the
reinforcement, and clearly show that the Coherent Gravity Method should be used for
design of MSE walls with inextensible reinforcements and the Simplified Method
should be used for MSE walls with extensible reinforcements. This is the state of the
practice, with proper selection of the MSE design method being critical to successful
design of MSE walls for highway structures