Soil Reinforcement

The scope of green roofs on skyscrapers is generally more attention-grabbing, but a look at them on a much smaller scale--such as on a sloped garage roof--may be most useful for those who haven't been exposed to the layered technology. Waterproofing membranes, drainage mats, separation fabrics and erosion control blankets are common to both large and small-scale green roofs. Learn more here.;

Badgerboro Road in Palmyra, Maine has often been called the state's "worst road." Unpaved roads can be very difficult to maintain, as annual weather conditions and traffic cause rutting and wash outs. Road fabrics were used on just 850 feet of Badgerboro last year but have been very successful. Towns are now debating spending more to incorporate similar strategies in road repairs. Learn more here.;

India-based Bharat Books is offering a sales-tax-free copy of a geosynthetics study that forecasts 5% growth per year between 2010 and 2015. The report suggests geogrids and geocomposites show the greatest market potential and that the transportation sector will be a major driver. The study is from Freedonia. Learn more here.;

Buffalo Bayou is a rugged part of Houston's past--a reminder of what the area looked like before massive urbanization. But the banks of the bayou have been eroding rapidly. The district spends millions each year in defense. And now home owners are laying out up to $150,000 to stabilize their shorelines. Learn more here.;

Geosynthetics are being used to repair and strengthen roads in Grand Cayman, the Cayman Net News reports. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has been seeking longer road service lives. The current project is one of the first for the island with the materials. Geogrids and geotextiles are enabling the safe construction over peat. Learn more here.;

It's a mouthful and it's off limits for the time being. Important portside transportation construction in New Zealand has blocked off an old road with a geogrid reinforced and wrapped wall. John Jones, writing for the Gisborne Herald, seems a touch confused by his introduction to the materials. Learn more here.;

Tensar International Corporation (TIC), a leading developer and manufacturer of technology-driven site solutions, has expanded its pavement reinforcement capabilities with the addition of the GlasPave™ Waterproofing Paving Mat, new from Saint-Gobain Technical Fabrics (SGTF). The GlasPave™ mat joins SGTF’s well-established GlasGrid® Pavement Reinforcement System, used to reduce reflective cracking on highways, runways and parking lots. TIC is the exclusive distributor of both products throughout North and South America. Read more.

The US Army Corp of Engineer (USACE) is racing against the clock to get grass to grow on some elevated levees in New Orleans ahead of the next storm season. The slopes have developed some ruts and are not taking to new seed well. Part of the problem is old, inexact "boilerplate" specifications. Perhaps vegetated erosion contol blankets and turf reinforcement mats (TRMs) merit greater consideration now. Learn more here.;

In Tacoma, Washington they are about to undergo a much-needed correction to the substructure of Pacific Avenue, a main stretch in downtown Tacoma. The city is upset that the use of geosynthetic separation and reinforcement wasn't incorporated into the road's 2002 lightrail construction. Geosynthetics will be used now to stop the street from sinking further. Learn more here.;

Within the Tuscaloosa News' business roundup you'll find TTL Inc.'s 2008 Engineering Excellence Honor Award for its geosynthetic-reinforced load transfer platform work. The design transfers the building loads from compressible soils to a deeper firm foundation. The platform, a first of its kind in Alabama, consists of geosynthetic reinforcement layers and a stone base. The American Council of Engineering Companies of Alabama presented the award. Learn more here.;

Erosion Control magazine's latest issue includes a suite of geosynthetic articles. Carol Brzozowski writes about geocells, geogrid steep-slope reinforcement, and vegetated, geogrid walls; Roberta Baxter covers silt fence and sediment control; and Janis Keating tackles slope erosion and drainage control with blankets and TRMs--including with North American Green's expertise. Learn more here.;

geosynthetica.net's 2008 Education Box project has received a mention in the March issue of CE News. See the piece online in the New & Noteworthy section and learn how we're working to improve undergraduate geosynthetic education. A version for practicing engineers may be developed too. Learn more here.;

Abdullah-Al-Hussain, a student in civil engineering in Khulna University of Engineering & Technology KUET), Bangladesh, is researching the use of geosnthetics for embankment slope protection. Readers of geosynthetica who might have project information you can share with him are encouraged to email him directly. Learn more here.;

Strata Systems, Inc. announced that its high tenacity geogrids and other soil reinforcement products have been issued a CE marking certification. CE is a mandatory European marking for certain product groups to indicate conformity with the essential health and safety requirements set out in European Directives.

A retaining wall made of steel mesh and "old fashioned lime cement" has collapsed along the shore at Pay Beach near Oak Bluffs in Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard area. Officials are scrambling to repair the road and seaside wall ahead of the popular beach season. They have appealed for "some good advice." We suggest they start this time with more modern design: geosynthetic reinforcement! Learn more here.;

In the latter half of 2007, J. Ross Publishing launched the International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. Braja M. Das serves as the quarterly publication's editor-in-chief. Issues in the journal will address foundations, geosynthetics, retaining structures, slope stability and much more. Learn more at the publisher's website. Learn more here.;

Dundee Township, Michigan officials will meet tonight, February 12, to discuss road improvement plans. Among the city's interests: whether road fabrics or geotextile separators might help improve both road performance and long-term maintenance costs. Learn more here.;

The spike in demand for (and profit from) minerals and precious metals has caused a furious number of mining projects to be pushed. The environmental management costs--liners, erosion control, etc.--have contributed more as the scope of these mining sites expand; but a far greater cost crunch lies in the global competition for mining equipment and labor. There are shortages of both. Learn more here.;

Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said on Thursday that the federal government is responsible for the Fernley Canal break near Reno, Nevada. The break flooded a couple square miles of homes and caused considerable damage. Reid went on to criticize the President's slashing of Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) project money and warned against the dangers of an aging infrastructure that fails to adjust to modern needs. Learn more here.;

A necessary bridge reconstruction project near Cincinnati is reducing cost by including geosynthetic reinforcement in the abutment plan. While the article author is incorrect to call the reinforcement scheme a "new" technology, the project is yet another example of the need to update our infrastructure with modern materials. Learn more here.;

The British military is building geocellular wall systems at ammunition supply points (ASPs), according to the blog at Aviation Week. the article includes four photos from the ASP construction and describes them as "a new generation in-force protection system". Learn more here.;

Geotextiles are key to the construction of 33.7 km of highway on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion. Geotextile-formed embankments provide a platform for the road way. A face of volcanic stone will be added to the embankments. Read the article about the project and the manufacturing story to geotextiles here. Learn more here.;

North American Green's HydraCX2 Cotton Fiber Reinforced Matrix has been named one of Better Roads magazine's Top 50 Rollouts of 2007. North American Green manufacturers a number of erosion control products for slopes, channels and other needs. HydraCX is part of the company's new HydraMatriCx line. See the write up in Fibre2Fashion or the Top 50 in Better Roads. Learn more here.;

Gatlinburg, Tennessee is like many communities in that it is so tired of and concern with erosion and soil stability from new development that it is setting barriers to retaining wall and slope heights. The community is also to decide on vegetation that may be combined with walls. While those responsible for setting the benchmarks say changes may be made, an engineering review process will be needed. Learn more here.;

The corrected proof of Cho-Sen Wu and Yung-Shan Hong's article "The behavior of a laminated reinforced granular column" is available through ScienceDirect. The article comes from the journal Geotextiles and Geomembranes. Wu and Hong are professors from the Civil Engineering Department of Tamkang University in Taiwan. Learn more here.;