Soil Reinforcement

When Tony Allen, P.E., was at work on his civil engineering master’s thesis at Oregon State University in the early 1980s, he certainly couldn’t have foreseen the impact it would have during the next 30 years on geotextiles and geogrids in reinforcement applications. Of great importance, the work he pursued then (and since) has led to real understanding of the durability of geosynthetic reinforcements. Read more about the impact T925 has had on reinforcement design and specification in the United States and internationally. The article, from Geosynthetica's Chris Kelsey, appears in the May 2010 issue of CE News. Learn more here.;

With full White House support, America should be running high-speed railroads by the end of the decade, writes John Rosenthal. Such trains "consume less fuel, produce less carbon dioxide, and promote urban redevelopment, which has broader environmental benefits," said Kevin Brubaker, deputy director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. However, Joseph Szabo, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, reminds us: "This is a 40-year build-out, just like the Interstate Highway System was in the 1950s." Learn more here.;

Korea’s attempt to wrest 28,300-hectares of new land from the Yellow Sea has reached a major milestone 40 years after it was first proposed by former President Park Chung Hee. Four giant sea walls, 33 kilometers (20.1 miles) long, now surround the coastal areas of Gunsan City, Gimje City and Buan County in South Jeolla province, creating a massive sea water pool nearly two thirds of the size of Seoul. Over the next decade, the water will be gradually drained and filled in with sand, creating land for farming and development, and an 11,800 hectare fresh water reservoir. Learn more here.;

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) will hold the First International GSI-Asia Geosynthetics Conference at the Windsor Hotel Taichung in Taichung, Taiwan from 16-18 November 2010. The conference themes is "Geosynthetics in Infrastructure Applications." GSI's Geosynthetic Research Institute (GRI) annually holds an international event in North America. That event is nearing its 25th anniversary. The launch of an international forum serving the Asia region is exciting news. Read more.

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.;

It is with great sadness that we must share the news of Bernard Myles' passing after a difficult and courageous battle with cancer. (We thank John Greenwood and Russell Jones for passing along news from the IGS UK Chapter.) Bernard's contributions to the IGS span some 25 years. He was a member of the first IGS Council formed in November 1983 and remained on the Council until 1992. He was later re-elected on the Council in 2000 and remained until 2008. Our thoughts are with his family in this difficult time. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has revised D5261, "Standard Test Method for Measuring Mass per Unit Area of Geotextiles," as D5261-10. This test method is used to determine if the geotextile material meets specifications for mass per unit area. This test method can be used for quality control to determine specimen conformance. This measurement allows for a simple control of the delivered material by a comparison of the mass per unit area of the delivered material and the specified mass per unit area. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has reapproved D5617, "Standard Test Method for Multi-Axial Tension Test for Geosynthetics," as D5617-04(2010). Installed geosynthetics are subjected to forces from more than one direction including forces perpendicular to the surfaces of the geosynthetic. Out of plane deformation of a geosynthetic may be useful in evaluating materials for caps where subsidence of the subsoil may be problematic. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has revised D6637, "Standard Test Method for Determining Tensile Properties of Geogrids by the Single or Multi-Rib Tensile Method," as D6637-10. The determination of the tensile force-elongation values of geogrids provides index property values. This test method shall be used for quality control and acceptance testing of commercial shipments of geogrids. Learn more here.;

Royal Ten Cate (TenCate) has been nominated for the King Willem I Prize (Koning Willem I Prijs) 2010. The nomination of TenCate for the Dutch enterprise award is in the category for companies of more than 250 employees. The other two nominated companies in this category are Stage Entertainment and the VDL Group from the Netherlands. The King Willem I Prize is awarded once every two years by the Dutch King Willem I Foundation. Learn more.

ASTM Committee D35 will meet 8-11 June 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri. The current schedule includes the second meeting on geocells, reinforced geomembrane seams, asperity height, GCL design guidance, and much much more. Participants are reminded that the cut-off date for hotel registration is April 29. The cut-off date for pre-registration is June 2. Visit the D35 page for registration information. Learn more here.;

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 World Environmental & Water Resources Congress will be held 16-20 May 2010 in Providence, Rhode Island. It's an important opportunity for professionals in the environmental and water fields to convene and focus on topics of the day. This year’s technical program focuses on the Challenges of Change. Subjects include low impact developmetn (LID), watershed management, stormwater runoff, and much more. A draft schedule has been released for this ASCE event. See it and learn more at the event website. Learn more here.;

The World Bank Group has announced that it has thrown open the doors to its statistical databases and is challenging the global community to use the data to create new applications and solutions to help poor people in the developing world. Recognizing that transparency and accountability are essential to development, the World Bank Group is now providing free, open, and easy access to its comprehensive set of data on living standards around the globe -- some 2,000 indicators, including hundreds that go back 50 years. The data will be available in Arabic, French and Spanish in addition to English.

Continuous positive development in emerging markets and the revival of the industry business drove Sika to achievement of 2.3% sales growth in local currencies in the first quarter of 2010, although building activity in Europe and North America was clearly hampered due to weather. Gross margin could be maintained at the high level of the second half-year of 2009.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that $48.8 billion in highway funds is now available to state departments of transportation for federal projects through the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The HIRE Act, which was signed into law last month, included a provision that extended funding authority for surface transportation programs through 31 December 2010. The law provides $40.1 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for highway programs for FY 2010.

At the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 20 April 2010, the shareholders of Sika AG approved all proposals put forward by the Board of Directors and resolved to distribute a dividend to shareholders representing roughly 50% of consolidated net profit. Some 565 shareholders attended the Annual General Meeting of Sika AG on 20 April 2010 in Cham, which was headed by Dr. Walter Grüebler, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

ASTM D7556 - 10 Standard Test Methods for Determining Small-Strain Tensile Properties of Geogrids and Geotextiles by In-Air Cyclic Tension Tests is a new standard from ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics. The test methods allow for the determination of cyclic tensile modulus at different levels of prescribed or permanent strain, thereby accounting for possible changes in cyclic tensile modulus with increasing permanent strain in the material. These test methods shall be used for research testing and to define properties for use in specific design methods. Learn more. Learn more here.;

The Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS) is an international forum for the peer-reviewed presentation of both applied and fundamental research and case studies on solid waste management, policy, and regulation and includes networking opportunities for technical interaction and discussion among all participants. The GWMS is a biennial event that was launched in 2008 and attended by over 500 participants from 26 countries. GWMS 2010 will be held 3-6 October 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. Read more.

Tensar International's TriAx geogrid has been successfully installed by South African World Cup 2010 contractors to overcome poor load-bearing ground encountered on the new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. Construction of the stadium, which will play host to a World Cup semi-final in July, was made problematic by the highly variable soil inherent to this spectacular ocean-side setting at the southern tip of the continent. Read more.

Wall Herald Corporation has agreed to pay approximately $20 million for past and future cleanup costs incurred by the federal government at the Monitor Devices Superfund site in Wall Township, N.J., according to a settlement filed today in federal court in Trenton, N.J., the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

Newly established EPA regulations require a monitoring program to sample and analyze turbidity of storm water from construction sites. Only a few states currently have a program that is based on EPA guidelines for industrial site sampling. Construction sites may require innovative collection techniques not similar to industrial discharges. Based on specific construction site conditions, this "How To" webinar presents information to enable a permittee to select and set up several from among several acceptable techniques. Learn more.

Cliff Hall and David Cashman of Tensar International Ltd. have released a white paper, "Plotting the Road Map for Performance Specifications." Slowly but surely, specification by performance is becoming a more accepted method for construction by highways agencies both in the UK and internationally. The results promise much needed innovation and significant economic and environmental benefits. But how should contractors and suppliers be adapting to changing client demands? Tracing the route of changing specification practice tells us that reliance on laboratory-based testing of materials cannot show how materials perform under real life site conditions.

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 Chile following the massive 8.8-magnitude eatrthquake and tsunami, professional engineer Marc Percher is witnessing the devastation to infrastructure firsthand as a member of an ASCE team, and is sharing his observations in a blog he's regularly updating from the scene. Read his fascinating entries, share your reactions and pose questions to Percher in the blog's comments. Learn more here.;