Dr. Peter Rankilor, a pioneer in the geosynthetic, geotextile and geomembrane industry was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison as a result of his January conviction on “indecent assault and incest” charges stemming from events between 1980 and 1996. The charges came in a Manchester, UK court on 24 different counts of serious sexual offences against children. Source: New Civil Engineer.
Available Resources
Two November Webinars from Maccaferri: Advancing Geosynthetics and Hydraulic Applications
Maccaferri, a manufacturer of geogrid, gabion, rockfall protection, and other geoconstruction products is offering a series of webinars. On November 8, the topic will be ‘Advancing Maccaferri Geosynthetics’. On November 15, the topic will be […]
Standards and Codes
ASTM Updates for April 2011
It’s that time again. Here are a collection of changes/additions to ASTM standards that are relevant to geotechnical engineers, soils labs, CQA firms and related disciplines. There are a couple of interesting new standards available. D7698 is a new procedure for estimation of in-place density and water content of soil and aggregate by correlation with complex impedance. I’m not eactly sure what that is, but it sounds cool. There is also a new standard (D7702) that provides guidance for the evaluation of direct shear results involving geosynthetics. Read on for these and other updates.
Project Related
Geosynthetics at De-Icing Facitility
GeoSynthetica was kind enough to track down an interesting case study in the use of geosynthetics at a new de-icing facility at Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport. Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol are commonly used de-icing chemicals. Most de-icing is done at the gate to avoid flight delays, but it also increases the chance of environmental contamination. In the design of a new dedicated de-icing facility at the airport, geosynthetic clay liners (GCL), Geocells, geotextiles and geocomposites were all used to handle chemical-laden runoff as well as regular runoff during the non-icy times of year. Also there is a problem with high water table and a resulting detrimental effect on the pavement subgrade. This is where the aggregate-filled geocells were used. Read on for the link. (Photo by Spiritwood Images)