At the Hickory Ridge Landfill near Atlanta, Georgia, a project is being undertaken to cap the landfill with solar geomembranes. It will be the largest solar facility in Georgia, and the largest solar landfill installation in the world. Covering an area of over 10 acres, the cap is comprised of 6,974 individual solar laminates, each generating about 144 watts of power. If my math is correct, that’s a little over 1 mega-watt or enough to power, enough to power about 240 homes. [Source: Waste360 via Geosynthetica.net News. Image: Waste360]
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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.
Noted Geotechnical and Geosynthetics Expert Jailed for Child Abuse
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)