Soil Reinforcement

Controlling scour at storm water pipe outlets can be difficult based on the turbulent nature of the discharging storm water. Take into account the often odd-shaped outlet dimensions, and product selection and installation can be difficult. Until recently, rock was used as the main source of scour control at pipe outfalls, but rock can be limiting in that it cannot offer a vegetated design and is often difficult to maintain. North American Greens ShoreMax™ soft revetment scour protection mat was introduced recently with the intended use of providing high-performance supplemental scour protection. Learn more.

TenCate Geosynthetics has published the Summer 2013 issue of its MiraFACTS newsletter. Each issue delivers project profiles, technology updates, market trends, and more. (Readers can also register to win an...

Year-over-year earnings reports show how far the global plastics industry has come since the start of 2009, with plastics titans Dow, ExxonMobil Chemical, and BASF showing double-digit gains in sales and volumes, even in Western economies that had heretofore lagged. Read more at Plastics Today. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society runs a series of high-level workshops that are organized by the IGS Technical Committees. Two of the major TCs are TC – Soil Reinforcement and...

BASF SE, the world's biggest chemical company, said it plans to outpace the expected 5 percent annual growth in the global plastics market by boosting operations in Asia. BASF's plastics division will report higher sales and a "significant" improvement in earnings in 2010, board member Martin Brudermueller reiterated at a press conference in Frankenthal, Germany. Demand in Asia will grow at 6 percent a year through 2015, he said. Learn more here.;

From January 2011, Ian Fraser, will succeed Hein Jas as Tensar International's Director of Application Technology. Ian Fraser will lead the company's development of new and existing markets as it seeks to speed the adoption of geosynthetic materials in construction projects. Currently Vice Chairman of the UK Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society, he represents the IGS on The Ground Forum and is leading the Working Party on the Development of a Minimum Standard for Geotextile Separators in the UK. He is also involved in the development of a Code of Practice for Use of Geosynthetics in Asphalt via the Road Surface Treatment Association.

The annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meetings in Washington, D.C. provide some of the most influential transportation engineering discussions. Geosynthetics are always part of papers, standards discussions, research awards,...

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) United Kingdom chapter (IGS UK) has unveiled a new website: www.igs-uk.org. The updated design is responsive to the user’s device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) and...

Kaytech has recently acquired a specialised, high technology, warp knit geogrid line from Karl Meyer to manufacture high strength, low strain, reinforcing geogrids and composite geotextiles for soil and slope stabilisation, basal reinforcement and asphalt reinforcement interlayers. The Karl Meyer is currently being commissioned and Kaytech is now also finalising their choices of GCL machinery at present. With a greenfield manufacturing setup, they have an opportunity to make something superior to what is currently in the market, but they feel machinery choices are critical. Their investigation teams have been all over the world to assess candidate plant manufacturers. Peter Davies states that "the geosynthetics business is good in SA and we have made these investment choices as we have confidence that SA is on a growth path. Being local manufacturers of our own products has always enabled us to stay ahead of the pack and we do hope to maintain that lead and increase it with these two new investments." For pictures of the new machinery, please go to the "continued" link below.

The flood disaster of 1997 made a deep impression on many Germans. The Oder and Morava river basins flooded, and the waters spread through regions of the Czech Republic,...

CQA Week was established 10 years ago to provide technically advanced but immediately implementable, revenue-generating expertise for geotechnical engineering businesses. The focus is on providing the type of training that will...

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) will host the 46th Annual Southeastern Transportation Geotechnical Engineering Conference, which offers geosynthetics, geohazards, erosion control, and other geotechnical professionals an excellent...

Geosynthetics magazine editor Ron Bygness has passed along a photo from his recent visit to Korea, where he visited companies, testing laboratories, and university classes. He promises a more detailed outline of the trip will be published in the next issue of Geosynthetics. Read a summary of the soon-to-be-published issue and view the photo in full size. Also, geosynthetica invites you to share your work site and travel images with our readers. Contact chris@geosynthetica.net for more information.

Geogrids are not just in large-scale stabilization projects but smaller-scale ones too. The reinforcement can provide significant savings on the cost of aggregate placement by reducing aggregate need. Case in point, Estherville, Iowa where a school reduced its base aggregate need from 12 to 8 inches with the installation of geogrids. Learn more here.;

By ACE Geosynthetics – Taichung Harbor, located at the south side of the Dajia River outfall, suffered from siltation due to drifting sand. A silt deposition area between the...

On Monday, President Obama proposed $1.82 billion in funding for 27 major transit construction projects that will create jobs and increase transportation options throughout the United States. A complete list of projects -- which are located in metropolitan areas across the nation -- is available here.

For the week of November 28, ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has announced a number of standards reapprovals and revisions. The latest includes specifications relating to geofoam, geocomposites, shear strength between segmental retaining wall block units, and short-term compression behavior. Read more.

The Technical Textiles & Nonwoven Association is proud to announce the release of its latest learning resource on Geosynthetics: a series of informational geosynthetics lectures posted openly on YouTube. The videos address applications for geosyntehtic use and core product functions. Read more.

The 15,000 member Transportation and Development Institute (TDI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has announced its First Congress will be held 13-16 March 2011 in Chicago. The theme will be "Integrated Transportation and Development for a Better Tomorrow." Abstract submissions are invited through 20 April 2010. Five concurrent paper/presentation tracks, a technical tour and pre/post Congress workshops are planned.

TRI Environmental, Inc. (TRI), a leading international geotechnical, geosynthetic and erosion control materials services company, has announced the acquisition of advanced testing equipment from the former Bathurst Clarabut Geotechnical Testing (BCGT) office in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Among the noteworthy testing capabilities: a specialized large-scale testing apparatus for analyzing the connection strength of segmental retaining wall blocks, a mobile very large-scale (VLS) shear box—one of a few of its kind in the world—for on-site waste shear strength testing up to 3 ft cu samples, six segmental retaining wall creep frames, and a plain loading device to facilitate bench-scale bearing capacity studies for geosynthetics used in soil improvement applications.

Maccaferri's Steelgrid woven geocomposite steel mesh system is featured on-line at the World Highways website. Read more to learn about this alternative system for applications where conventional rockfall netting requires extra reinforcement with cables. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the IGS Secretariat role. The Secretariat will perform duties and provide deliverables as specified by the IGS Secretary and IGS Officers as required. Proposals should be prepared by interested parties and submitted to the undersigned by 20 June 2010. A decision is expected to be made by 30 June 2010. For information regarding the details, please see the RFP here (in PDF). Learn more here.;

Strong companies are often characterized by stability among key staff. Following its history of internal team development and promotion, TenCate Geosynthetics has announced the promotions of Beth Wilbanks...

In the company's latest project story, Stata Systems reports on the repair of an unstable slope in Fairfield, California. The roadside site involved more than 5,700 sq. ft. of 2:1 slope. Strata provided 26,000 sq. yds. of geogrid reinforcement, which was then covered with soil and natural vegetation. The solution provided a 30% cost savings over the other competitive geosynthetic solution being considered by the city and county. Read more.

When the United States Congress, working with President Obama’s administration, released the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the staggering billions it opened for allocation were in part to go to “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects. Whether the nation's most polluted sites would benefit, however, was not clear. On Wednesday, April 15, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced $600 million of the Recovery Act funds would be made available to National Priorities List (NPL) projects—otherwise known as Superfund. Chris Kelsey reports.