Mechanical stabilized earth (MSE) is soil constructed with artificial reinforcing. It is used to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to (typically a steep, near-vertical or vertical slope). This helps with keeping soil from getting on mountain roads or shifting out of area like overpasses.

Each year our project is given a objective to overcome. We use our abilities to create our own to design and build this structure in a given time frame and test whether it can hold up to and past our objective. This year’s competition required for the wall to withstand a weight of 50 pounds applied on top and 25 pound to a frame set inside the box, but also included a 5 pound weight being dropped onto the frame. With the requirements and objectives given, the team designed and built a retaining structure to get past these challenges.