SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) held its sixth short course in Salt Lake City, Utah on 21 May 2012 in the Multi-Agency State Office Building in cooperation with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ). The short course was organized by the FGI with the outstanding assistance of Otis Willoughby, Environmental Scientist with the UDEQ and Garrett Dutson, Site Engineer with Energy Solutions, LLC. The course was attended by one hundred and two (102) people. The excellent and timely presentations focused on the use of fabricated geomembranes for coal combustion residuals, oil and gas related activities, and mining applications. In addition, the course included two excellent local speakers to bring local experience and issues to the attendees. Joergen Pilz, Design Engineer with Rio Tinto, gave the following two presentations: (1) use of geosynthetics in mining applications in the morning and (2) four mining related case histories in the afternoon. Steven Bartlett, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah, gave an informative presentation on geofoam and use of geomembranes to protect geofoam in a variety of applications.
Ron Frobel introduced the Geomembrane Selection Matrix developed by FGI. The Geomembrane Selection Matrix can be used to facilitate selection of geomembrane polymer type for a particular application. Many attendee questions and comments made the course a great success. The course covered the design, specification, testing, manufacturing, fabrication, installation, inspection, welding, and field testing of fabricated geomembranes in a variety of applications. Steven Hobbs and Ryan Smith conducted hands on demonstrations on geomembrane welding procedures.
The FGI is dedicated to advancing the use of fabricated geomembranes through education, research, and technology transfer. The FGI is a consortium of manufacturers, fabricators/installers, designers, regulators, and material suppliers of fabricated geomembranes. For more information on the FGI, please visit www.fabricatedgeomembrane.com.
The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute is affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Timothy D. Stark is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an expertise in Geotechnical and Geosynthetics Engineering. Dr. Stark has been teaching, researching, and consulting on geosynthetics, stability of manmade slopes, and design of waste containment facilities for about 20 years. The FGI is an industry-sponsored institute at the University of Illinois focused on advancing the use of fabricated geomembranes through education, research, and technology transfer.
For more information on the FGI, contact Dr. Stark at +1 217-333-7394 or tstark@illinois.edu.
