21 March 2011 – In recent large-scale channel testing by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials’ National Transportation Product Evaluation Program (AASHTO-NTPEP), North American Green’s new ShoreMax® Soft Revetment Scour Protection Mat pushed turf reinforcement mat (TRM) performance to a new level.
As one of the newest additions to Tensar’s North American Green erosion control line, the ShoreMax® Mat delivered unprecedented unvegetated results in NTPEP’s ASTM channel testing, withstanding shear stresses up to 8.6 lbs/ft2 and velocities exceeding 19 ft/sec. Tested with a Vmax3® P550 TRM underlayment, the completely unvegetated ShoreMax system actually exceeded the level of performance provided by many fully vegetated TRMs.
The ShoreMax® Mat is ideal for boosting the scour resistance of TRMs, sod, and geotextiles in areas subject to highly turbulent water flows and wave action. Shorelines, levees, spillways, stormwater pipe transition zones, and bridge abutments are just a few areas that often require greater scour protection than TRMs or lesser erosion control materials can provide. In the past, such severe applications required the use of expensive, unsightly and environmentally unfriendly hard armor materials such as rock riprap and articulating concrete blocks. Today, North American Green’s new ShoreMax Soft Revetment Scour Protection Mat provides a resilient, highly effective, yet much softer, greener, and less expensive barrier to flow-induced scour.
ShoreMax® is a patent pending, highly flexible UV-stabilized rubber mat with one-inch voids that allow vegetation establishment through the mat or natural infilling of sediment. The mats, available in natural green and tan, are designed for use with a protective underlayment such as a TRM, sod, geotextile, or in some cases, an erosion control blanket. A single worker or small crew can quickly interlock and anchor multiple three-foot by five-foot ShoreMax panels in critical areas where there is scour potential.
“ShoreMax® is creating a great deal of marketplace excitement,” said Tim Lancaster, director of erosion control and marine technology for Tensar. “It goes in quickly and without heavy equipment. Simply place and anchor the 40 pound mat on top of a TRM, such as one of our Vmax3® products, and you get an immediate, highly effective scour barrier, which only gets better as the vegetation develops.
“The ShoreMax® product actually enables customers to use one of our Vmax3 TRMs in applications that were once considered too severe for TRMs alone. For instance, it’s not uncommon to see riprap used in the high scour area at the mouth of a culvert feeding into a drainage channel, with one of our Vmax3 products protecting the remainder of the channel. The ShoreMax product now makes it possible to replace the rock riprap with Vmax3 right up to the mouth of the culvert, thus providing much greener vegetative protection from head to tail.”
The ShoreMax® Soft Revetment Scour Protection Mat is an affordable option for a wide range of scour protection projects, including:
- Shoreline protection along rivers, streams, and lakes
- Boat docking areas
- High flow channel bottoms and bends
- Stormwater pipe inlets and outlets
- Curb outfalls and downspouts
- Over-flow structures like levees and spillways
- Bridge abutments
- Anywhere extra scour protection is needed!
ShoreMax® is available through North American Green’s nationwide network of authorized distributors. For samples, literature, and specifications, please call (800) 772 2040 or visit www.nagreen.com.
About Tensar International
Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Tensar International is a full service provider of specialty products and engineering services that offer innovative alternatives to traditional construction methods. Their North American Green erosion control product line is supported by a worldwide network of qualified distributors with a full line of soil protection solutions for a wide variety of commercial and residential applications; from a new HydraMatriCx® Series line of straw and reclaimed cotton plant material hydraulic erosion control products and short-term degradable erosion control blankets to permanent turf reinforcement mats.
North American Green’s Erosion Solutions Specialists are trained to provide site-specific project design and product specification assistance using North American Green’s Erosion Control Materials Design Software (ECMDS®); and offers the most comprehensive guarantee in the industry, the Ultimate Assurance Guarantee. For more information, visit www.tensarcorp.com or www.nagreen.com.
About AASHTO-NTPEP
NTPEP was established by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in 1994. It is modeled on successful programs that operated for many years under the direction of the Southeast Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (SASHTO) and the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials (NASTO). NTPEP provides the industry with a focal point to initiate the process of evaluating and testing of products and materials for the AASHTO member departments through one organization. For more information call +1 202 624 7830 or visit www.ntpep.org.
Contact
Ms. Cindy McGovern
Marketing Services Manager – Erosion Control
Tensar / North American Green
+1 678 281 8611
cmcgovern@tensarcorporation.com
