Avoid geotextile damage from oil spill cleanup
July 1st, 2024
Q: We are a riverfront landowner with a significant 25-foot (7.6 m) riprap slope protecting our property from erosion and scour. There is a woven monofilament geotextile filter under the riprap to stop the embankment soil from piping into the river. This system has worked well for the past 10 years, even with two 100-year […]
Soliciting all interested parties in creating a new geomat specification
April 1st, 2024
FIGURE 1 Polypropylene geomat with geotextile The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) has a long history of creating industry-wide generic specifications for geosynthetics. At present, we have 23 promulgated and three others under development. Like all engineered materials, geosynthetics need general requirements/thresholds to incorporate into plans and specifications. GSI is currently undertaking a new effort in regards […]
Septic system drain fields
October 1st, 2023
Q: Should I sock the perforated pipe of my septic system drain field and eliminate the gravel rock/bedding around the pipe? A: Unfortunately, only socking perforated (and hopefully corrugated) pipe for a septic system drain field works for very few instances over time. We have seen it work in alluvial deposits of free-flowing sand and […]
A geotextile filter for an edge drain
August 1st, 2021
Q: I am doing a geotextile filter design for a highway edge drain. All I have from the site is a grain size analysis of the sandy subgrade soil. Can you point me in the right direction? A: First you are going to need to calculate an estimate of hydraulic conductivity for the sandy soil […]
MSE wall failures can be mitigated through the use of geotextile filters
April 1st, 2019
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 reinforced soil zone. We sincerely hope that our […]
Multilinear drainage geocomposites to filter oil sands tailing slurries
October 1st, 2018
Mining and some energy operations generate large quantities of water-containing tailings. These tailings are made of crushed-rock particles that are deposited in a slurry form. This is the case for coal, tar sand, lead, zinc, gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, nickel, taconite (iron), phosphate, bauxite (aluminum oxide), uranium, trona (soda ash) and potash, for example. There […]
Springtime failure of a cold-climate geotextile riprap slope
June 1st, 2018
Geotextiles play an essential role in geotechnical projects. A significant use for geotextiles is as a separator and filter in drainage and erosion control applications (Holtz 2002). A temporary erosion control application geotextile, such as silt fencing, is used to prevent soil erosion by containing the soil and turbid water in a onetime operation. For […]