AUSTIN, Texas – TRI Environmental, Inc. (TRI), a leading international geotechnical, geosynthetic and erosion control materials services company, has announced the acquisition of advanced testing equipment from the former Bathurst Clarabut Geotechnical Testing (BCGT) office in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The equipment has been added to testing and research infrastructure supporting TRI’s Geosynthetic Interaction Division under the direction of John M. Allen, P.E. and Mike Domingo, one of the BCGT office’s original technicians.
Among the noteworthy testing capabilities added is a specialized large-scale testing apparatus for analyzing the connection strength of segmental retaining wall blocks, such as those commonly found in major highway retaining wall projects. The load frames can accommodate blocks as large as 5 ft tall x 10 feet long x 5 ft deep in a running bond configuration. Other equipment also includes a very large-scale (VLS) shear box—one of a few of its kind in the world—which will enable new analysis of shear strength of waste. This shear box is mobile for conducting on-site studies and can accommodate samples up to 3 ft3. This new shear box now allows TRI to determine the shear strength of waste thereby supporting stability studies which are critical both to mining and bioreactor landfill applications.
“These are exceptional apparatuses,” says TRI’s Division Director John Allen. “The 3 ft x 3 ft large-scale direct shear box can actually be transported directly to a site, such as a landfill, for not just site-specific testing accuracy but site-specific understanding of conditions.”
In addition to the large scale equipment are six segmental retaining wall creep frames used for determining strength reduction between segmental retaining wall block and geogrid systems under a sustained load. This is critical piece of design information for understanding the long-term stability of a wall.
Lastly, TRI now has the ability to conduct bench scale bearing capacity studies for geosynthetics used in soil improvement applications. A plain loading device (5 ft x 5 ft) was part of the acquisition and will enable the unique testing of the bearing capacity with materials such as geocellular systems, which are increasingly being used in reinforcement applications on soft subgrades.
In addition to retaining Mike Domingo in Kingston, Pete Clarabut is acting as a consultant to TRI. Their expertise in large-scale testing, including tests with large block and tests using specialized creep frames for measuring the creep between joints, is an excellent addition to the growing services TRI offers its international client base.
For more information on TRI’s geosynthetic, geotechnical, erosion and sediment control, wall block, and affiliated testing services, please visit www.geosynthetictesting.com, or contact John Allen at +1 512 705 5657, jallen@tri-env.com.
