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.
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]
Project Related
New earthquake mitigation material – geofoam and geogrid
Graduate student Saman Zarnani and Dr. Richard Bathurst of the Royal Military College have developed a new application for geofoam and geosynthetics, to mitigate earthquake damage by improving the foundation subgrade. Initial shake table testing […]
Standards and Codes
ASTM Updates August 2009
Another busy month for ASTM with 66 new, revised or otherwise updated standards related to geotechnical and geological engineering (although not as busy as last month). A couple that caught my eye include brand new standards for geospatial data requirements related to abandoned mines, a new standard for sampling of EPS or geofoam, updated standards for mortar and cement, flexural strength of concrete, LA Abrasion test for aggregates, acceptance testing of geosynthetic clay liners, electrical methods for leak detection of geomembranes with earth cover and classification of soils and soil-aggregate mixtures for highway construction purpose (AASHTO classification).
Those involved in the materials testing side of the business should take a close look at the full list as there are also a number of updated standards relating to various asphalt and and aggregate tests, capping of concrete cyllinders and other related testing standards.
For my practice, perhaps the most significant standard that was updated was D 2488 – Standard Practice for Description and Identification of Soils (Visual-Manual Procedure) which we rely on for our field USCS classifications. I’ll be curious to see what those changes entail. Click through for the full list.