GSI to host webinar on stabilization with nailed or anchored geosynthetics the Wednesday

June 22, 2020  |  Events, GSI News

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) will sponsor a webinar, “In-Situ Stabilization of Soil Slopes Using Nailed or Anchored Geosynthetics,” on June 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT. Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) member companies and their employees receive discounted rates on all GSI web…
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Test method for determining leakage through imperfections in GMs of a composite liner system

June 1, 2020  |  GSI News

George R. Koerner This article describes a large-scale test method intended to determine the leakage through imperfections in a geomembrane (GM) under a given head. It can be used as a performance test to simulate field conditions where the GM is physically breached. The test method places a GM test…
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GSI issues request-for-proposals for graduate student fellowships

May 18, 2020  |  GSI News

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) announces a worldwide request-for-proposals (RFP) focusing on innovative geosynthetics research and development projects. There will be several awards given, each for $5,000. Emphasis will be placed on relevant topics of interest and/or concern to the geosynthetics c…
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How does your geosynthetic react to changes in temperature?

April 1, 2020  |  GSI News

An essential aspect of geosynthetics is that they function well over a large range of temperatures in either buried or exposed environments. There has been much work in this area; see Giroud and Morel (1992), Koerner and Koerner (1995 and 2006), Lord, Soong and Koerner (1995), and Tsuboi, Imaizumi a…
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The GMA Techline is 15 years old

February 1, 2020  |  GSI News

By Robert M. Koerner The GMA Techline was initiated on Sept. 1, 2004, as a free worldwide answer center for questions involving any, or all, aspects of geosynthetics. There were no constraints put on the questioners, or on the answers that were provided by the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI). To date, …
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A forty-year anniversary for the first hardbound book on geosynthetics

October 1, 2019  |  GSI News

By Robert M. Koerner In the late 1970s, I regularly invited speakers to make presentations to my geotechnical engineering classes at Drexel University. Two of them were very memorable: Bill Ragen of Mirafi and Bill Witherow of Carlisle. Their respective topics were “filter fabrics” and “pond l…
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Commentary on flood abatement using geosynthetics

August 1, 2019  |  GSI News

By Robert M. and George R. Koerner On Sept. 8, 1900, a Category 4 hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, which is situated on the Gulf of Mexico about 8 feet (2.4 m) above sea level. The storm created a 15-foot (4.6-m) storm surge, killing 8,000 to 12,000 people and causing massive destruction. Subseque…
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Reflections on sustainability with respect to geosynthetic materials

June 1, 2019  |  GSI News, News

By Robert M. and George R. Koerner Listening to and reading the news, there seems to be regular criticism of all plastics insofar as concerns as to their post-use disposal in light of their exceedingly long lifetimes. Rarely, if ever, is the distinction made as to which plastics are really necessary…
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MSE wall failures can be mitigated through the use of geotextile filters

April 1, 2019  |  GSI News, News

For the past 17 years, the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) has been accumulating data on failures of geosynthetic reinforced mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls. We presently have 320 cases, of which 201 (63%) have been caused in whole or part by water within, or adjacent to, the reinfo…
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Changing the ‘one per 500 feet’ paradigm on geomembrane field seam sampling

February 1, 2019  |  GSI News, News

The late Henry Haxo Jr., Ph.D., former president of Matrecon Inc., deserves considerable credit for developing many of the concepts and practices involved in waste containment liner and cover systems. Beginning in the 1970s, various projects, many of them funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection …
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