Dashu Mountain in Hefei City, Anhui Province, China, is a well-known tourist destination for people throughout South Asia. The area’s beauty is a particularly popular draw for hikers. When a new access road needed to be constructed, local officials selected a geocellular system for the road base. This geosynthetic solution gave them an efficient, low-cost, long-life solution that was less invasive for the environment.
To support the 5m-wide road, approximately 28,000 m2 of geocells from Ecoweb Geocellular Synthetics were supplied.
(SEE SLIDESHOW at end of article.)
Ecoweb EC 150-356 were supplied in textured, perforated, green colored construction. The engineered design enabled strong retention of road fill while also enabling drainage to keep the system from ponding. The green color allowed the panels to blend into the environment so that if a panel section was exposed it would not be visually disruptive to the environment.
Each geocell panel covered 11 m2. In total, 2580 panels of this geocell were used. Despite this volume, the material was able to be delivered to the site efficiently in just two 40 ft. containers.
ADVANTAGES OF GEOCELLULAR SYSTEM
The client realized a number of advantages in utilizing a geocellular system solution for the mountain road:
- The geosynthetics was easy to transport to the site, easy to install, and could be installed in all weather conditions without compromising installation speed and safety
- The geocell reduced the road construction thickness, which saved on cost and allowed the use of locally sourced infill
- The Ecoweb provided a high loading capacity and long-term durability
- The projected road life-span was greater than the proposed non-geosynthetic designs
- The geocell stability would reduce the frequency of mountain road maintenance, further reducing the cost of the system
ENGINEERING PROPERTIES
Highlights of the product used for the Dashu project:
- Weld Strength: 16kN/m USACE GL-86-19 (Seam Peel Strength), 32kN/m EN ISO 13426-1 Method C (Split Strength)
- Tensile Strength: 32000kN/m2 (32 MPa)(TD) 30000kN/m2 (30 MPa)(MD)
- OIT: > 200min
The geocell used for the site is also available in various configurations, including cell depths of 25 – 300mm, weld spacing from 220 – 1000mm, strip lengths up to 8.2m, tensile strengths exceeding 32,000 kN/m2 (32 MPa), elongation greater than 900% (TD), etc.
Ecoweb Geocellular Synthetics will be at EuroGeo 6, the 6th European Conference on Geosynthetics, in Ljubljana, Slovenia 25 – 28 September 2016. Visit them in Booth #145 to discuss geocellular system design and applications.
Learn more about Ecoweb Geocellular Synthetics.
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