International geosynthetics manufacturer Solmax is well known for its barrier technologies, including with conductive lining systems that can enhance site quality assurance. The company is now expanding options for the marketplace with these systems. This week, it unveiled its Leak Location Suite (LLS).
The system aims to build repeatable liner testing and remediation into containment design. See end of story for a video on the new offering.
THE LEAK LOCATION SUITE
What’s in the Leak Location Suite? Solmax’s conductive liner, a patented Iso-wedge installation tool, and a spark tester. The conductive bottom surface of the liner enables the use of the Iso-wedge and spark testing equipment to conduct an electric liner integrity (ELI) survey, also known as a liner integrity survey, without the addition of a physical conductive layer. The need to add a conductive layer–e.g., flooding the substrate or hydrating the subgrade–can be costly and time consuming.
“This is a complete package, a comprehensive quality leak location solution that will allow testing at installation and after covering the geomembrane, regardless of the site-specific conditions and materials,” says Jimmy Youngblood, the company’s Global Geosynthetics Manager. “It gives engineers more flexibility in their design. It also enables them to more cost-efficiently build repeatable liner testing and remediation into containment design to ensure that risks to investment, environment, and reputation can more effectively be managed.”
Solmax notes that its Leak Location Suite can be tailored to the needs of an application. This is made possible through the use of co-extruded HDPE or LLDPE. The bottom layer is made of electrically conductive carbon black, but the top layer of the geomembrane can be smooth or textured, white, black, or green.
The Iso-wedge is specially designed to ensure that conductive geomembranes are effectively welded together and that the exposed upper seam flap is reliably isolated the from the bottom panel. The S-100 Spark Tester is specifically designed to enable fast, accurate ELI surveys (Spark Tests) on exposed conductive membranes.
WHY TEST A LINER AFTER INSTALLATION?
Liner integrity testing verifies the quality of the seams on an installation. Geosynthetic barriers are intended to be impermeable containment solutions for liquids. The materials and tools in the Leak Location Suite help ensure that the installed lining system goes into service in as ideal of a condition as possible. Leakage is minimized and costly penalties (from an undiscovered leak) are avoided.
Learn more about the Leak Location Suite on the Solmax website.
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