Geofabrics Australasia’s (www.geofabrics.co) engineer Preston Kendall has been selected to present at the forthcoming 10th International Conference on Geosynthetics (10 ICG). Kendall’s paper has been selected by the International Geosynthetics Society’s (IGS) special Young Members Session in Berlin.
10 ICG will be held 21 – 25 September 2014 at the Estrel Convention Centre and will be co-located with the 33rd Baugrundtagung (Geotechnical Engineering Conference) of the German Geotechnical Society. The Young IGS Members Session takes place on September 23.
Kendall is an engineer who focuses on research and product application development of geosynthetics. In 2008 he received a bachelor’s degree in Physics from The University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee). He went on to continue his studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 2010 and a master’s in Civil Engineering in 2012.
Kendall is an active member of the Australian Chapter of IGS and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Below is an abstract of Kendall’s paper, which he will present in Berlin in September:
Large-Scale Controlled Testing of Geotextile Puncture Resistance for Rock Impact
A. Kendall, P.M. and Austin, R. A.
Geofabrics Australasia, Gold Coast, Australia
B. Cheah, C. and Lacy, M.
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT: The puncture resistance of a range of geotextiles was measured using a method designed to represent large-scale field conditions without sacrificing repeatability or experimental control. The test method simulates rock impacts on a subgrade overlain by a geotextile, a very common condition encountered during the installation and construction of bund walls and revetments. The test apparatus allows controlled and repeatable testing of rock impacts up to 1 tonne in mass, dropped from heights of up to 2.5m. Variables such as geotextile anchorage, subgrade consistency, and rock shape were controlled. The extent of geotextile damage was inspected, measured, and analysed. Two types of polyester non-woven geotextiles were tested: staple fibre (SF) and continuous filament (CF). It was found that the staple fibre geotextile performed remarkably better than the continuous filament geotextile in the same test conditions. The paper discusses the development and key features of the testing apparatus as well as the damage results measured from a range of geotextiles. The test regime described in this paper, which consists of over 100 rock impacts incorporating varied drop heights and geotextiles, has shown that it can be used to inform a general revetment installation design guideline.
