GSE Gundseal Video
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Standards and Codes
ASTM Updates September 2009
This post contains a summary of geotechnical, materials testing, geosynthetic and related testing standards that were updated by ASTM during the month of September. This month there were not as many updates as the last couple, but a few that caught my eye are a new standard for measuring geosynthetic-soil resilient interface shear stiffness, a revision to the standard practice for laboratories testing concrete and concrete aggregates for use in construction and criteria for laboratory evaluation and a revision to the standard for measuring slump flow of self-consolidating concrete.
Failures
Continuing Problems for Ohio Landfill
The Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facilities in Stark County, Ohio have a new round of problems. There has been much debate over an underground fire reportedly caused by the disposal of aluminum dross waste, a byproduct of aluminum production, dumped between 1993 and 2001. The site has long received complaints for odors and for a long time denied that there was a fire. They have also had problems with slope stability, including a failure of a portion of the south slope in 2006, possibly a result of the destabilizing effect of the fire. Early this year the Ohio EPA cited the facility for violating 8 environmental regulations after waste was found to have migrated outside the permited waste area.
Their latest problems involve a tear or leak of a geosynthetic lining that caps the facility to control gas and odors from the underground fires and regular landfill gas. The leak resulted in 500 to 5,000 gallons of leachate spilling into a sediment pond. The material fortunately did not leave the site and was pumped out of the pond and transfered to a treatment plant where their leachate usually goes. The landfill, one of the largest in Ohio, handles about 6,000 tons of trash a day, including about half of Summit County’s residential garbage.
Story by way of Geosynthetica. Image from Long Live the Village Green.
Press Releases
TenCate opens new factory in China for the growing geosynthetic market
Royal Ten Cate
Almelo, The Netherlands, 13 June 2008
Today marks the opening by Royal Ten Cate (Koninklijke Ten Cate nv) of its new factory for geosynthetic materials near the city of Zhuhai (pop. 1.5 m) in Guangdong province, China. TenCate Geosynthetics will use this plant to produce textiles for the strongly growing Asian market. The initial workforce will number some 150. [Editor] (At left: TenCate Mirafi® N-Series non-woven geotextile.) Click through for the rest of the press release. Source: Geosynthetica. [/Editor]