All Articles

Turning the Red River green

February 1, 2009 | Case Studies

The Red River of the North submerged 2 Upper Midwest towns 12 years ago. Now geotextile matting is part of the foundation for a sweeping urban levee and greenway. By Adam Regn Arvidson Introduction Today, the Greater Grand Forks Greenway is a large, beautiful park bordering the Red River of the Nort…

Geomembrane liner and subsurface stormwater system installed at new Minnesota football stadium

February 1, 2009 | Case Studies

By Ron Bygness and Mark Apfelbacher Developers of large urban projects — such as the new TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota — are challenged to find sustainable ways to manage stormwater without wasting precious space. “At the stadium, space is at a premium,” sai…

Riverbank protection helps save a cemetery

February 1, 2009 | Case Studies

Compiled and edited by Ron Bygness For nearly a century-and-a-half, Big Bend Lutheran Church in west-central Minnesota has stood proudly on a 60-ft bluff overlooking the Chippewa River. The founders of this rural parish also plotted a cemetery adjacent to the chuch and even closer to the overlook of…

Reinforced wall project launches new retail development in Southern California

February 1, 2009 | Case Studies

Project highlights: The Shops at Sycamore Creek (15.6-acre site), Corona, Calif. Location: Riverside County, Calif., Interstate-15 Freeway Frontage and Indian Truck Trail (adjacent to the Elsinore Fault zone) Purpose of retaining wall: To create a construction pad allowing enough flat buildable land…

TenCate Geosynthetics wins 2008 Award of Excellence for Geosynthetic Projects

February 1, 2009 | Case Studies

The award is part of the 2008 International Achievement Awards presented by the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI). Abstract This project upgraded an existing, narrow rural road to a British Columbia Ministry of Transportation (BCMoT) standard 8m-wide, gravel surface road. About 85m…

GCL shrinkage: A possible solution

February 1, 2009 | Features

By Richard Thiel and Chris Thiel Introduction A potential industry-wide concern for GCL shrinkage was identified by Thiel and Richardson (2005) at the January 2005 Geo-Frontiers conference in Austin, Texas, based on observed problems at several sites worldwide. All of the known problems were for ins…

How long will my liner last?

October 1, 2008 | Products

What is the remaining service life of my HDPE geomembrane? By Ian D. Peggs, P.E., P.Eng., Ph.D. Introduction In his keynote lecture at the GeoAmericas-2008 conference last March, Dr. Robert Koerner (et al., 2008) of the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) reported the ongoing Geosynthetic Research Institut…

The Geosynthetic Institute Fellowship Program

October 1, 2008 | News

By Bob Koerner It was of great personal interest to look into Wikipedia® and learn that there are 1.6 million nonprofit organizations in the United States! Many other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, have similar organizations. I believe that most of these nonprofits, e.g., univ…

Shear strength

October 1, 2008 | Features

From the GMA Techline Subject: Shear strength — We are looking for interface shear strengths of a geocomposite- to-geocomposite interface. Both composites would have nonwoven fabric. Is test data available that indicates what this interface strength would be? (Chet, Ohio) Reply: The shear stre…

Geomembrane costs

October 1, 2008 | Products

From the GMA Techline Subject: Geomembrane costs — What is the average cost in U.S. dollars, for installation only, of 10,000m2 and 100,000m2 of PVC membrane and HDPE membrane? (Lindo, Louisiana) Reply: I can’t give you an answer, since costs vary with the thickness of the geomembrane, t…