Soil Reinforcement

Geosynthetica publishes employment opportunities for the geosynthetics and affiliated geotechnical engineering community. Please contact Chris Kelsey, Editor or Elizabeth Peggs, Director for information on posting. Prospective candidates are encourage...

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...

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.;

Approximately 50 people from North America, the United Kingdom, Austria, Spain and Norway, attended Applied Market Information's (AMI) "Plastics in Underground Pipe 2009" conference in Orlando, Florida on 6 and 7 May. Pipe conferences are invariably good events to learn about the performance characteristics of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for extension to geomembranes and other geosynthetics. This conference was no exception. Read Ian Peggs' review.

HUESKER Group announces a strengthened management structure, which sets new priorities and will further improve customer orientation, reaction times and HUESKER's product and service portfolio. In order to serve the...

Whales (bubbles above the water level) in a lined wastewater pond are usually caused by leaking water that cannot be removed, which in turn generates methane that also cannot be removed. Minimize leakage through the liner (there will inevitably be some), provide a functioning leakage removal (monitoring) system, and a functioning gas venting system. A nonwoven geotextile alone under the geomembrane is not sufficient to do this.

The University of Minnesota held its 61st Annual Geotechnical Engineering Conference on Friday, February 22 at the conference center on the St. Paul campus. Sponsored by the U of M Department of Civil Engineering, the Minnesota Geotechnical Society (MGS), and the Geo-Institute of ASCE, this annual gathering continues to impress. In a report on his visit to the conference, Geosynthetica Editor Chris Kelsey writes that "This year's event focused on instrumentation, data interpretation, and the impacts of geotechnical activities on the environment and structures (such as building overlying tunneling zones). These guiding ideas helped provide significant perspective on the changing practice of engineering. Chaired by Steve Gale (Gale-Tec), the event included many presentations in which geosynthetics played a key role in the geotechnical solution."

In October, North Carolina-based HUESKER hosted a high-level, invitation-only geosynthetics technical networking event—GeoPass—in Charlotte, North Carolina at its new headquarters. The gathering of researchers, consultants, and other...

Maccaferri has an active global network and a very long history of success in geosynthetic and affiliated geotechnical engineering projects, but it continues to find new benchmarks. In Oman,...

GeoMontreal 2013 has extended its "early-bird" conference registration rates to 5 August 2013. The full conference registration price for Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS), International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), and...

David Butchart has returned to the geotechnical engineering field in a new business development and strategy role with Earth Wall Products, LLC. The company provides proprietary retaining wall systems...

India-based Fibre 2 Fashion has published an interview with Suresh Kannan, Vice President, SRF Limited. Mr. Kannan comments on the importance of growing sectors in India. Of note, he cites Indian government support for research and development and new spending initiatives to produce an infrastructure capable of sustaining growth. Road construction, waste management, airport runways and coastal erosion control are expected to be major sectors. Agrotech also shows promise. Read more. Learn more here.;

The International Erosion Control Association Region One (IECA) has named the winner of its Most Distinguished Technical Paper Award for Environmental Connection 2016: Michael Perez, a graduate student at...

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...

The 15th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (XV PCSMGE) takes place 15 – 18 November 2015 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. PCSMGE delivers one of the...

Erosion Control magazine has relaunched its website with greater interactivity built in. It's a big step for the 15-year-old publication. In the release about the site's interactivity, editor Janice Kasperson says, "We hope readers will think of the magazine in a new way -- not as a one-way delivery of articles and information, but as a community." Learn more here.;

For the geosynthetics community, the conversation around the Simplified Method vs. the Stiffness Method for internal stability design in mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls has been a vocal one....

The organizers of GeoHalifax 2009 (20 - 24 September 2009) have released the conference's latest e-newsletter. (Interested readers can subscribe to the feed via the conference website.) Some of the highlights: registration will continue through the conference; the exhibit hall is sold out; and more than 400 abstracts were submitted. Presenters can use the online submission system for PowerPoint files. GeoHalifax 2009 is hosted by the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). Learn more here.;

Save USD $200/night at the GeoAmericas 2016 hotel! Organizers for the 3rd Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics have announced an extension on the conference rate for rooms at the Loews...

Mechanically stabilized earth walls have been the subject of the most read stories on Geosynthetica this year and a few of the most read stories in 2016 as well....

Geosynthetics magazine editor Ron Bygness has passed along a photo from his recent visit to Korea, where he visited companies, testing laboratories, and university classes. He promises a more detailed outline of the trip will be published in the next issue of Geosynthetics. Read a summary of the soon-to-be-published issue and view the photo in full size. Also, geosynthetica invites you to share your work site and travel images with our readers. Contact chris@geosynthetica.net for more information.

A Pennsylvania company has received a $36 million contract to repair Bluestone Dam. Brayman Construction Company of Saxonburg, Pa., will install 54 anchors in the dam's spillway and east abutment areas to help strengthen and stabilize the structure. Brayman also will build a work platform along the dam's western downstream face. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to install 600 anchors to increase the dam's stability. 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."

Geosynthetics 2015 will be held 15 - 18 February 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Today (April 15) is the final day to submit abstracts to the conference's technical sessions. Ian...

TenCate Geosynthetics has improved and expanded its MiraSpec™ Design Solutions Software, an easy-to-use software program to assist in flexible pavement and unpaved road design while demonstrating the many benefits...