Soil Reinforcement

According to latest reports, the polyethylene (a plastic polymer) production capacity in the Middle East's Gulf countries will increase from 10.7 million tonnes in 2009 to 21.5 million tonnes by the year 2015, an increase of slightly more than 100 per cent. Likewise, the production capaciy of polypropylene (another polymer) will increase from 4.8 million tonne in 2009 to 9.5 million tonne by year 2015, an increase of 98 per cent. Learn more here.;

CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) have announced a high-level business forum, to take place next year alongside the ITMA 2011 show, in Barcelona, Spain. Read more.

The 31st Geotechnical Conference and Exhibition of the German Geotechnical Society (DGGT) will take place 3-6 November 2010 in Munich at the International Conference Center of Munich. The event celebrates 50 years of DGGT events and activities. Presentations will include NAUE, Huesker, BBG and other geosynthetic-related companies. Learn more at the event website. Learn more here.;

The 31st Geotechnical Conference and Exhibition of the German Geotechnical Society (DGGT) will take place 3-6 November 2010 in Munich at the International Conference Center of Munich. The event celebrates 50 years of DGGT events and activities. Presentations will include NAUE, Huesker, BBG and other geosynthetic-related companies. Download the event brochure. Learn more here.;

Amir N. Hanna seems close to going forth on a $600,000 study on "Effect of Geosynthetics on Structural Pavement Design." The study is affiliated with the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The start date has been listed as 13 June 2010, but official approval seems pegged to August 2010 funding announcements. Learn more here.;

Two new ASTM International standards will aid in the recent national movement to develop a mechanistic-empirical design guide for pavements. The new standards, developed by ASTM International D35 on Geosynthetics, will each cover quantification of fundamental material properties for pavement components. The standards, ASTM D7499 (Test Method for Measuring Geosynthetic-Soil Resilient Interface Shear Stiffness) and ASTM D7556 (Test Methods for Determining Small-Strain Tensile Properties of Geogrids and Geotextiles by In-Air Cyclic Tension Tests) are under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee D35.01 on Mechanical Properties.

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPEC) has made available more than 40 technical presentations from GPEC 2010 online. For $150 for SPE members ($199 for nonmembers), you can access any presentation for a 6-month period and continue to learn. Because everything is hosted online, you will receive almost-instant access to vast amounts of technical information. Learn more here.;

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) invites you to present a paper at its inaugural EUROTEC technical conference in Barcelona, Spain. The three-day event, SPE-EUROTEC 2011, will be attended by several hundred industry professionals who are interested in learning about the latest global developments in plastics.SPE is inviting speakers to present papers at this first-ever conference in the following areas: Failure Analysis and Prevention; Bioplastics; Product and Engineering Design; Color and Additives; General Business; Engineering Properties; Structure; and more. Learn more here.;

The National Association of County Engineers (NACE) will hold its 2011 conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 17-21 April 2011. As the event comes to the North Star state; and, appropriately enough, will run with the theme, "Guiding with Vision." Learn more at the association website. Learn more here.;

The deadline for the early-bird registration rate to the American Public Works Association (APWA) 2010 conference and exhibition is 28 June 2010. The event will be held 15-18 August 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. It will be co-located with the Solid Waste Association of North America's (SWANA) annual WASTECON event. Learn more here.;

The American Public Works Association (APWA) 2011 conference and exhibition is accepting presentation proposals through 30 September 2010. The event will be held 18-21 September 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Learn more here.;

Drenotex geotextiles from Freudenberg Politex are not new on the Russian market. What is new at the facility in Nizhniy Novgorod Region is the additional capacity of over 3,000 tons of nonwovens for geotextiles applications which will be available from July 2010.

Freudenberg Politex has been forced again to raise its sales prices. Raw materials on the market are very short and over the last few weeks this situation has dramatically affected costs, with unpredictable and uncontrollable rises. The 7% prices increase will be applied effective from June 2010 including roofing reinforcements, nonwovens for thermal and acoustic insulation, as well as to all other building materials.

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has announced a number of interesting work items, in the wake of the recent meeting in St. Louis. This includes five items covering areas such as nominal thickness of geosynthetics, geocomposites and pavement edge drains, soil-geotextile clogging, and more. Also, Committee D18 on Soil and Rock has items on hydraulically-applied erosion control (HECPs) products and gabions. See the latest here.

Co-hosted by IGS Thailand, a chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society, the International Conference on Slopes 2010 will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand 23-25 July 2010. The conference's main theme is "Geotechniques and Geosynthetics for Slopes." Stabilization, remediation, design and other engineering issues will be key. The official language of the conference is English. Learn more at the conference website. Learn more here.;

The European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX) has invited IFAI to organize its fourth advanced textiles conference alongside its machinery exhibition on three consecutive morning sessions: 26-28 September 2011. ITMA, owned by CEMATEX has been held every four years since 1951, and is the world's largest international textile machinery exhibition. Miss Maria Avery, Secretary General, CEMATEX, said, "Technical textiles is a very important sector and we welcome IFAI to organize the Advanced Textiles conference at ITMA 2011. We see it as a win-win partnership."

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has announced a work item, WK29211, "Standard Test Method for Measuring the Nominal Thickness of Geosynthetics." It is a work item revision to existing standard D5199-01(2006). The posted rationale behind the work item is "to bring the Terminlogy Section in line with the Form amd Style Manual." Learn more here.;

BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical maker, plans to increase revenue to more than 90 billion euros ($110 billion) by 2020, led by growth in Asia and South America. Revenue is expected to swell to 20 billion euros in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of the decade, the German chemical maker said in a presentation today. That compares with targeted sales of 49 billion euros in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and 17 billion euros in North America. BASF’s sales totaled 50.7 billion euros last year. Learn more here.;

The Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) has announced that it is planning two workshops for the fall: "Erosion and Sediment Control Field" seminar to be held in Mankato (August or September) and "Stormwater Pollution Plan for the Flood" to be held in Moorhead (September). More details will be announced soon. Learn more here.;

On 29 July 2010, a one-day workshop from the Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) will introduce designers, regulators and contractors to the latest permanent erosion control practices and techniques. Examples of successful and unsuccessful erosion control projects will be provided, along with samples of materials and corresponding manufactures design and informational literature. Presenters include Steve Klein (Barr Engineering); John Chapman (University of Minnesota Erosion Control and Stormwater Management Program); and various product vendors. The event will be held in Hastings, Minnesota. Learn more here.;

The International Railway Safety Conference (IRSC) is a forum that brings together rail safety professionals from around the globe in order to exchange information and provide experiences and lessons for improving rail safety and is exclusively devoted to rail safety issues. IRSC 2010--the 20th annual meeting--will be held in Hong Kong 3-8 October 2010 under the theme "Challenges in Sustaining Railway Safety." Online registration is open for the second-stage early bird discount. Abstracts for presentations are being accepted through 30 June 2010. Learn more here.;

The town of Rosendale, New York began emergency road repairs in March to fix a rapidly eroding slope that forced a sudden road closure. A retaining wall is being constructed to stabilize the slope, and geotextile and crushed stone have been fitted at the toe to prevent further erosion and to provide stability. Learn more here.;

Total construction spending contracted by 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and is not expected to see positive growth until the last quarter of 2010, according to the Second Quarter U.S. Construction Briefing by IHS Global Insight's Construction Service. The residential construction sector, led by single-family construction, is seeing a rebound in activity. Low mortgage rates and low prices will result in improved affordability, which, when combined with income growth, pent-up demand and returning employment, will result in growth in the sector in 2010. Nonresidential construction, which is still being impacted by high vacancy rates and tight credit conditions, will continue to shrink throughout 2010 and will bottom out in the fourth quarter of the year.

In Colwood, British Columbia--on Victoria Island--wave action is washing fill out from beneath the pavement at the Esquimalt Lagoon bridge. To address that problem, the City will place timbers at the base of the abutments to protect them from waves. On the north side, a section of the asphalt will be removed and fill material excavated out. That area will then be repacked and the sides reinforced with geotextile to prevent fill material from being drawn out. Learn more here.;

In Chittagong, Bangladesh, it's estimated that 50,000 residents are under threat of landslides. Development and hillside stripping has gone on largely unchecked and has de-stabilized large sections of the hills ahead of the rainy season. Reinforcement and rebuilding of some of these hills will be needed. Learn more here.;