Reinforcing dunes and bluffs with geosynthetics

October 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Brian Maggi, Christopher D. P. Baxter, Aaron Bradshaw, Annette Grilli and Naser Al Naser The devastating effects of recent hurricanes and nor’easters highlight the need to improve the resilience of coastal communities. There is a trend toward implementing “soft” engineering solutions such a…
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Repairing an oil well platform with a geogrid reinforced soil slope

October 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Jeff A. Segar  The Mormon Butte site is in the Little Missouri National Grassland in the Badlands region of western North Dakota (Figure 1). Constructed in 1985 and leased through the U.S. Forest Service, the pad elevation was created by cutting into the side of the butte and depositing the …
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Nature area drainage control with GCCM

October 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Joe Royer, Kurt Chirbas and Ziad Mazboudi The City of Laguna Niguel in Orange County, Calif., has its origins in the Rancho Niguel Mexican land grant, acquired in 1959 by the Laguna Niguel Corp. to develop one of California’s first master-planned communities, which has become predominantly a be…
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Lessons learned in alternative coal ash pond closure design and construction

October 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Anna M. Saindon Coal ash pond closures often face unique challenges due to location, available borrow soils and construction constraints. These challenges can lead to alternative methods of closure to comply with Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D and coal combustion residua…
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Remediation case study of uranium ore residues settling basin

September 30, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Laura Carbone, Ole Syllwasschy and Lilma Schimmel In the past, the Soviet-German stock company Wismut carried out an intensive uranium mining operation resulting in a large amount of polluted tailings containing daughter nuclides of uranium (Koß 1997) that were released into industrial sediment …
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An innovative cover system to close an ash/sludge impoundment

August 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Paul C. O’Malley, José L. Urrutia and Don DiGuilio The two projects (confidential client) are industrial sites consisting of coal ash and by-product sludge located in the southeastern United States. The projects included 70 and 67 acres (28 and 27 ha) in closure areas, and the waste source con…
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Reviving the Palos Verdes Reservoir—Part 4

August 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By John Heap and Chris Kelsey The active site work for the Palos Verdes Reservoir’s substantial update began in late 2016, advanced primarily throughout 2018 and concluded in the second quarter of 2019 with the filling of the reservoir. The project was immense for everyone involved, and with that …
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A minitube blanket for landfill gas collection and containment

August 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Stephan Fourmont, Pascal Saunier and Toraj Ghofrani Landfill gas (LFG) is produced during the decomposition of putrescible material in landfills. Often referred to as biogas, LFG is a source of odors and fugitive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. LFG is typically 40%–60% methane, which is 25 time…
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Stabilization of subgrade soils during Interstate 95 lane widening

August 1, 2019  |  Case Studies, Features

By Bryan C. Gee, Eric Klein and William T. Maier The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) is implementing a multiyear, multiphase project to add express toll lanes (ETLs) to Interstate 95. The ETLs are providing significant congestion relief in one of the most heavily trafficked corridors in the…
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Geogrid reinforced soil structures reach new heights

June 1, 2019  |  Features

By Sachin Mandavkar and Mehari Weldu Reinforced soil structures are geotechnical systems consisting of reinforcing elements and primarily include mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls and reinforced soil slopes (RSS) (Figure 1). MSE walls and RSS are constructed by placing alternating layers of …
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