Reinforced soil slope design and construction

June 1, 2016  |  Features

Harold Court East Regional Service Center in Austin, Texas Introduction The Harold Court East Regional Service Center in Austin, Texas, is a city-owned multi-purpose facility used primarily for material storage. The erosion control and other issues at this site included: periodic movement of the emb…
Read More
Part 2: Field evaluation of the performance of unpaved roads incorporating geosynthetics—Planning

April 1, 2016  |  Features, News

Introduction Scope and terminology The mechanisms that govern unpaved road performance are complex. Therefore, it is legitimate to try to get quantitative data from laboratory and field tests, but test interpretation can be correct only if there is a good understanding of the mechanisms (which was t…
Read More
Part 1: Mechanisms governing the performance of unpaved roads incorporating geosynthetics

February 1, 2016  |  Features, News

Authors’ note: Road improvement is one of the major applications of geosynthetics. It is also one of the most complex because of the variety of mechanisms involved. This Part 1 article provides a description of the mechanisms that govern the performance of unpaved roads incorporating geosynthetics…
Read More
Geocomposite for landfill’s groundwater drainage layer

February 1, 2016  |  Features

Background Dubuque Landfill Cell 9, Phase 2, is located in Dubuque, Iowa. The original liner system (from bottom up) consisted of 1ft (30cm) groundwater collection layer, 8oz/sy (270g/m²) separation geotextile, 1ft (30cm) earth barrier layer, 2ft (60cm) compacted clay layer, 60mil (1.5mm) high-dens…
Read More
Geogrid proven in logging industry demonstration

February 1, 2016  |  Features

Introduction During a 2014 logging industry event in the Pacific Northwest, geogrid was used to reinforce portions of a heavily travelled logging road. The demonstration was conducted during the Pacific Logging Congress, 7th In the Woods, held in Molalla, Ore. An aggregate haul road was constructed …
Read More
Tight timeline + extreme specs = a notable RPE geomembrane install

October 1, 2015  |  Features

And with weather only Bigfoot could love. Introduction Northeastern British Columbia could, by most definitions, be considered the middle of nowhere. Tumbler Ridge (pop. 2,710), a district municipality in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies bordering Alberta, is and was from its inception in 1981 …
Read More
Geosynthetics for the management, containment, and closure of CCR disposal facilities

October 1, 2015  |  Features

Background Coal combustion residuals (CCR) management and disposal facilities are facing an onslaught of increased scrutiny regarding environmental concerns in the form of the newly implemented CCR regulations and impending effluent limit guidelines and EPA’s 316(b) requirements for containment an…
Read More
Part 2: Durability of geosynthetics

October 1, 2015  |  Features

Part 2 Durability of geosynthetics: The basics Author’s note This article is based on a training presentation delivered on Sept. 24, 2014, at the 10th International Conference on Geosynthetics in Berlin, Germany. That talk was itself based on courses given at ERA Technology, Leatherhead, U.K., wit…
Read More
Report from the North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS)

April 1, 2015  |  Features

By Bob Mackey ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics The ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics met in New Orleans, La., Jan. 28–30, 2015. There was significant progress within several of the D35 subcommittees as noted here: Subcommittee D35.03 on Permeability and Filtration The issue that generated a g…
Read More
Design considerations

February 1, 2015  |  Features, News

By Richard Thiel, Edward Kavazanjian Jr., and Xuan Wu Introduction Figure 1 shows a conceptual cross section of a landfill sideslope, including final grades at the end of waste placement and the ultimate grades due to the settlement that occurs following the end of waste placement. Settlement at any…
Read More