Ground Improvement

geosynthetica posts its first CEN Standards Watch: a breakdown of the standards currently under development or up for approval with Europe-based CEN's Technical Committee 189 (CEN/TC 189), which focuses on geosynthetics. Other important groups will be monitored as we move forth in this tracking of international standards formation. Read the first update here.

Maccaferri, Inc. seeks a Production Planning & Quality Assurance Manager with experience or aptitude in plant management functions to join its global production team. The position will report...

The 12th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium (Sardinia 2009) will be held in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) from 5 - 9 October 2009. Though organizers have received more than 700 abstracts, they are extending the call to 15 April 2009, in part out of deference to potential authors/presenters who were overlooked in emailings from the conference organizers and scientific committee.

There is a new global cooperation section of the ASTM International Web site. The updated site has a new look and features more information about ASTM activities with MOU partners and other international standards development organizations. The page links to technical assistance, training opportunities, events, and much more. Learn more here.;

Scott Barker of the Knoxville News Sentinel has published a nice update to the Kingston, Tennessee coal ash spill from December 2008. That reservoir break released 5.4 million cubic yards of contaminated fly ash. Some 25,000 pages of TVA records from the facility have been released and tell an interesting story of a dredge pond suffering continual leaks and breaks for decades. Cleanup may exceed $800 million. Learn more here.;

The 5th European Conference on Geosynthetics (EuroGeo 5) will be held 16-19 September 2012 in Valencia, Spain. The Spanish Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) will organize it, and the event will be held under the auspices of the IGS. Authors interested in presenting a paper at the Conference must provide an abstract before 31 October 2011, addressed to the Conference Secretariat, through the Conference website. Abstracts received by fax or mail will not be considered. Abstracts must be written in either English or Spanish. Visit the abstracts submission page on the conference website. Learn more here.;

In Auburn, Maine, public works officials want to replace a waterside asphalt turnout with a surface that will provide some infiltration rather than route runoff directly down the shoreline and into the water. Gravel alone has performed poorly before. So the city is testing two gravel-filled systems, each of which can support vehicle weight: GeoPave and GeoWeb. It's a contest of plastics blocks vs. geocells. Learn more here.;

Thrace-LINQ, a supplier of woven and nonwoven geosynthetic technical fabrics, announces the release of the Thrace-LINQ Product Finder™ mobile application for BlackBerry®, Android™, and Apple® mobile devices. Within seconds, the Thrace-LINQ Product Finder helps users identify geosynthetic products that meet specific project needs. Read more.

BERNVILLE, Pa. – 8 August 2014 – East Coast Erosion Blankets, LLC, dba East Coast Erosion Control, a privately held erosion control product manufacturing company, announced today that Diane...

Maccaferri, Inc., a global leader in civil and geotechnical engineering applications, seeks a Technical Sales Representative or Sales Engineer to support its Mid-Atlantic (MD, PA, VA, WV) market. The...

A growing interest in oil and gas exploration and extraction in Pennsylvania has led to increased road erosion, sediment runoff and cloudy streams. Conservation districts and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) cite the erosion to unpaved roads caused by heavy mining vehicles (in excess of the unpaved road design strength). Separation geotextile use is being planned for some future road constructions and repair to support the oil and gas traffic. Learn more here.;

The 11th International Conference on Geosynthetics (11ICG) will be held 16 – 21 September 2018 at the COEX in Seoul, Korea. The program will feature 1,000 geotechnical engineering experts...

Erosion and sediment control professionals can now use the high-quality lens technology in their iPhone and Android-based mobile devices to determine slopes and evaluate erosion control needs. ECDesigner™2.0 was...

The equestrian arena in Beijing is complete. Officials report that separation geotextiles have been installed to improve the performance of the arena floor, particularly for the dressage events, which require a bit more "spring" in the surface. The imported geotextiles have been installed along with a fine quartz sand. The design aims to guard against heavy rains that may come in August when the Games begin. Learn more here.;

Over at the utilitarianly named website howstuffworks.com, one can find quite a bit of generic information on things from automotive repair to DVD formating; calculating economic GDP to lists of banned books. An article from professor Craig Freudenrich has also cropped up to explain how landfills work too. And Marshall Brain's entry on the matter has appeared in the WCF Courier this week. Perhaps we'll see other geosynthetic pieces soon? Learn more here.;

Tensar International's Blackburn, United Kingdom office is profiled in Lancashire Telegraph article on the economic downtown and businesses finding a way to succeed. Tensar's Tim Oliver is interviewed in the article. He cites the pound's weakness as increasing the UK office's competitiveness in Europe, the success of the new China facility, and the growing announcements of government spending on infrastructure around the world as positive forces for Tensar and the industry. Learn more here.;

Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry Richard Marles today launched a $2.4million research centre that will investigate ways to contain potentially hazardous leaks from mine waste, domestic tips, tank farms and dams. Australian manufacturer Geofabrics Australasia has privately funded the centre, which will test the chemical reactivity, UV resistance and friction properties of materials used to line waste facilities.

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...

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a development has been proposed along the steep sloped and historic Stringer's Ridge. The city engineer is concerned over potential erosion and the ability of the sewer infrastructure to handle runoff. Everyone involved could simply make a short jaunt to Propex, which is based in Chattanooga, to learn about geosynthetics in erosion control and road construction. Learn more here.;

In the April 2015 issue of Irrigation Leader, North Carolina-based HUESKER inc.’s CEO Sven Schröer was interviewed for the publication’s “Business Leaders” section. The interview, which begins on Page...

Plastics Technology has changed its long-running monthly resin pricing column. The editors will now focus on "benchmark" grades of the four main "commodity" resins: polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride. The content of this article each month will be based on analysis of global feedstock, resin, and economic trends by resin purchasing consultants at Resin Technology, Inc. (RTI). RTI's input will add new "suggested action strategies" section for resin buyers. Also, a new pricing chart, based on data gathered by Plastics Technology, now focuses on the market prices of just the benchmark grades of commodity resins, supplemented by the latest North American short-term futures contracts from the London Metal Exchange (LME) for benchmark grades of LLDPE and PP. Learn more here.;

By Dr. Robert M. Koerner – Since 2001, the Geosynthetic Institute has accumulated data on failures of geosynthetic-reinforced mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls. Our MSE wall failures database...

The Erosion Control Technology Council, after two years of work and deliberations, has recently approved and published a comprehensive specification and application chart for hydraulic erosion control products. This specification is the product of consensus amongst the leading manufacturers of HECPs in the industry, and is designed to satisfy the needs of engineers, designers, hydro-seeding contractors and other end-users of these products. Formatted to be used in its entirety or easily modified as necessary by the end-user, this specification provides expert guidance from product classification and selection to product mixing and installation.

Numerous audio recordings and slide presentations from the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) 87th Annual Meeting, which was held 13-17 January 2008 in Washington, D.C., can be listened to and viewed through the TRB's website. The player works well and synchronizes slides to the voice recordings. Presentations on construciton, design, international activities, pavements and much more are available. Learn more here.;

CETCO Oilfield Services has announced that it is set to expand its presence in the growing market of Libya. The country is moving towards doubling its output of oil to 3 million barrels per day. Investment in Libya's oil and gas industry has increased 64% over the past few years. CETCO Oilfield Services is a sister division of CETCO Lining Technologies, which provides geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), geomembranes and other geosynthetic materials and expertise. Learn more here.;