Ground Improvement

GeoAfrica 2013, Second IGS Regional Conference on Geosynthetics in Africa, will be held 18-20 November 2013 in Accra, Ghana. Accra was listed by The New York Times as the #4 place...

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics WK29174 is a work item revision of D7001 - 06, "Standard Specification for Geocomposites for Pavement Edge Drains and Other High-Flow Applications." It is a review, update and reapprove work item. Learn more here.;

The Next GSI Webinar from the Geosynthetic Institute will focus on “Geosynthetics in Erosion Control.” This high-quality professional development opportunity will be held on 13 September 2017 from 11:30 am –...

In March 2014, I published “A Brief History of Geotextiles” in Land and Water Magazine. (A copy of that article may be downloaded in PDF here.) It would take...

The third Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS) will take place 30 September - 3 October 2012 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona and will serve as a forum for the presentation of applied and fundamental research, case studies, and policy analysis on waste and recyclables management. The organizers invite the community of researchers, engineers, designers, academicians, students, facility owners and operators, regulators, and policymakers to participate. Abstract deadline: November 4. Read more.

The government of India and INDA, a nonwovens industry association, are teaming up to organize nonwovens and geotextile workshops. The aim is to improve the technical textile knowledge base in the country. Learn more here.;

During the Geosynthetics 2009 gathering in Salt Lake City, Prof. Dennes Bergado, who is the director of the Asian Center for Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics (ACSIG), informed us that from 3 to 4 December 2009 the International Symposium on Geotechnical Engineering, Ground Improvement and Geosynthetics for Sustainable Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change would be held in Bangkok, Thailand. The brochure for this intriguing gathering can be viewed in PDF here.

The Fox River cleanup in Wisconsin, which has been profiled in engineering publications such as Geosynthetics, now needs to find a final destination for its PCB-contaminated material. Waste Management has applied for an application to dispose the material at its Ridgeview Landfill, but opposition is greeting this decision. The $390 million project has yet to choose burial sites for the dredged material. Learn more here.;

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that Propex will shift its corporate focus to erosion control. In addition to civil and environmental engineering solutions like erosion control blankets and mats and geotextiles, the company has a long history of producing products such as carpet backing. But Propex, like many companies, suffered during the economic recession, and its carpet backing business has recovered to only about one-third of its previous height as that industry completely changed. Today, Propex's civil engineering solutions are growing and returning the company to strength. Learn more here.;

Well, this is interesting. Geosynthetics are rarely introduced to students in early education; but Andrew Harris, a high school junior in Riviera Beach, Florida, will compete in the Palm Beach County Science and Engineering Fair with his study "Geosynthetics: Creating a Stronger Soil." Harris did tests with soil samples for his project research. Read about it in the Sun-Sentinel. Learn more here.;

Environmentalists this week expressed fears that Venice would face an increased risk of flooding if plans to expand the Italian city’s port are allowed to go ahead. The city’s port authority wants to develop a huge facility for bulk carriers. Learn more here.;

ASTM Interntional Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has established work item WK29397, "Standard Practice for Exposure and Retrieval of Samples to Evaluate Installation Damage of Geosynthetics." It is a work item revision to existing standard D5818-06. After the winter meeting in San Antonio it was voted to make modifications on section 7.1.7 of the standard. This ballot ONLY changes the existing paragraph to a clearer paragraph. Learn more here.;

Levees in the New Orleans area are being decertified at the moment. Faced with an estimated need of $100 billion to properly fix the region's levee system and prevent another disaster such as the failures that occurred during 2004's Hurricane Katrina. Decertification will affect zoning and property issues. The US Army Corp of Engineers has made repair proposals, but those plans are contingent upon significant funding increases necessary to take on responsibility for the larger system and correct it. Learn more here.;

While the priests and brothers of St. Benedict's Abbey in Still River, Massachusetts did not find water when attempting to establish a new well, they did show an exemplary use of geotextiles in roads. To support the well digging equipment, a new road was needed. Mud lay beneath ice. After difficult prep work, geotextile separation fabric and an aggregate base were installed to stabilize the zone and allow work to go forth. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired a world-renowned Colorado State University water researcher to design and build a levee testing facility capable of simulating erosion from the enormous waves that likely contributed to Hurricane Katrina's devastating toll on New Orleans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded $1.7 million to Chris Thornton, director of the Engineering Research Center, to design and build one of the world's largest wave overtopping simulators. Read more.

The 7th International Conference on Environmental Geotechnics (7 ICEG) will be held 10-14 November 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. This event will be one of 2014’s highlights and will offer an...

TenCate Geosynthetics and AGT International have signed a letter of intent for collaboration on the installation of TenCate GeoDetect® technology in a dike body at the Yellow River in Dayulan (Zhengzhou) in the Henan province in China. TenCate GeoDetect® is a monitoring system based on geotextiles with interwoven fibre optics, which registers changes in embankments and dikes. The system will be used in the AGT Flood Early Warning System.

Palm Beach County, Fla., commissioners plan to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to speed up repairs on the dike around Lake Okeechobee. The Corps estimates rehabilitating the 143-mile-long dike will be completed by 2025. "I don't want to wait until the floods come and the hurricanes and the lands out there are destroyed," said Commissioner Burt Aaronson. Learn more here.;

In June 2017, Concrete Canvas® Geosynthetic Cementitious Composite Mat (CC GCCM) was used to line a series of drainage channels at a remediated mining site in Wicklow, Ireland. The...

The story of Northfield, Vermont is not new: the majority of the town's roads are unpaved, development presents traffic and drainage problems, and the mud season comes earlier. Northfield has now allocated $50,000 per year for installing geotextile subgrade separators. Over a decade much of the town's roads will gain the needed drainage and structural support. Learn more here.;

In the February/March 2012 issue of Geosynthetics, Dr. Robert Koerner of the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) notes that the field lacks generic specifications for erosion control materials (as well as generic specs for various other geosynthetic materials). He writes, "...a reasonable case can be made that generic specifications have significantly aided both geotextile materials (e.g., via AASHTO specs) and geomembrane materials (e.g., via GRI specs). Such specifications address most common situations and also provide a platform from which unusual or atypical site-specific conditions can be implemented." Read more in Dr. Koerner's column on this pressing issue. Learn more here.;

Elizabeth Peggs, Geosynthetica's Director, is in attendance at the 91st Transportation Research Board Meeting (TRB) in Washington, D.C. (along with nearly 12,000 others). As time permits, she is sharing some event updates here.

The US Army Corp of Engineers is recommending that $800,000 to $1.3 million be allocated for the purchase of geotextiles for shore stabilization in Kivalina, Alaska. The fabric is expected to be wrapped around local fill, much in the way geotextile tubes work. The island, Kivalina, has historically been protected by ice, but with global warming the ice comes later each year and now puts the island in danger of eroding during severe autumnal storms. Learn more here.;

In the 1990s*, geosynthetic material development, polymeric research, and wide-scale manufacturing advances helped the field mature quickly. Regulatory support, such as the RCRA Subtitle D rule from the US...

Management consulting, publishing and training firm ZweigWhite is pleased to announce the acquisition of Stagnito Media's Engineering Group--its architectural and engineering resources--through a new wholly-owned subsidiary, ZweigWhite Media, LLC. Included in the acquisition is CE News. Read more.