News

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute(FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest College/University Member, Prairie View A&M University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.  Prairie View A&M University is the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state of Texas.  It is an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) consisting of nine colleges and schools and 70-degreeprograms. The Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. The Roy G. Perry College of Engineering offers a Master of Science in Engineering degree with concentrations in Civil Engineering as well as Environmental Engineering. The Civil& Environmental Engineering faculty are committed to excellence in teaching, research, and service to the university and its constituents. The FGI Liaison is Dr. Jobair Bin Alam, PE, Assistant Professor. He can be reached at mdalam@pvamu.edu.  Please help us welcome Prairie View A&M University’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering to the FGI!!!!

‍

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) held its biennial membership meeting on 24 February 2021 during the Geosynthetics 2021 Conference.  The meeting was attended by 26 people and held in conjunction with the Industrial Fabrics Association International organized conference.  During the membership meeting, the newly elected FGI Officers and Board of Directors were introduced for their two (2) year term.

 Before introducing the new Officers and Directors, Timothy D. Stark, FGI Technical Director and Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, acknowledged the service of the outgoing Officers and Board Members:  Greg Scales (Titan Environmental), Bill Shehane (Seaman Corporation), and Ed Silva (E Squared). Tim also acknowledged the recent retirement of John Heap from Colorado Lining International. John served as President of the PVC Geomembrane Institute(PGI) for four (4) years and was instrumental in expanding the PGI to the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute. The newly elected FGI Officers will serve a two-year term (2021-2023) and are:

• President – Patrick Elliott (Raven/Colorado Lining International)
• Treasurer – Brian Fraser (Layfield Group)
• Secretary – Duff Simbeck (Simbeck and Associates)

 The following newly elected FGI Board of Directors also will serve a two-year term (2021-2023) and are listed below in alphabetical order:

• Doug Hilts (Hilts Consulting Group)
• Ray Peebles (Cooley Group)
• Steve Thaxton (Owens Corning)
• Jordan Wiechmann (Intertape Polymer Group)

Other topics on the FGI’s Biennial Meeting agenda included:  current and future research activities, accomplishments since the last membership meeting at Geosynthetics 2019, and the future direction and goals of the FGI.  

 The following research topics are being pursued by the FGI at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

 ·        fPP Case History

·        fPP Air Channel Seam Testing

·        PVC Specification for Desert Applications

·        Reinforced Geomembrane Thermal/Wrinkle Testing

 Other accomplishments of the FGI over the last two years include:

·        Publication of several technical articles and papers

·        Hosted short courses in Bogota, Colombia and Charlotte, North Carolina

·        Publication of three new geomembrane calculators for cost comparisons, leakage rates, and panel weight shipping

·        Publication of Installation Details and Drawings

·        Created Geo-Engineering Audio and Video Podcast Series

·        Created Geo-Engineering Pop Quiz Series

·        Hosted 23 live webinars, averaging 250 attendees and 450 registrants per webinar

·        Created on-line PDH Certificate Program with about 500 people receiving a PDH Certificate for downloading and listening to a webinar

·        Created Women in Geosynthetics Program – hosting two successful Round Table Discussions and quarterly virtual meetings

 The final portion of the FGI Biennial Membership Meeting was dedicated to a lively discussion on the future direction and goals of the FGI by its members.  The FGI has five membership classifications:  manufacturers, fabricators and Installers, Installer Only, Associate, and Government/Regulatory Agency.  The FGI’s membership spans four continents:  North America, South America, Australia, and Europe.

 The FGI is dedicated to advancing the use of fabricated geomembranes through education, research, and technology transfer.  The FGI is a consortium of manufacturers, fabricators/installers, designers, regulators, and material suppliers of fabricated geomembranes.  For more information on the FGI, please visit www.fabricatedgeomembrane.com.

February 25, 2021, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Moderators: Jordan Wiechmann, Intertape Polymer Group and Jen Miller, Fabricated Geomembrane Institute

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute at the University of Illinois has created a group titled, “Women in Geosynthetics (WIG)” in order to promote the advancement of women in the geosynthetics industry through education, networking and mentoring opportunities. Audience participation is the focus of this highly interactive discussion

The discussion will include, but is not limited to the following points of interest:

–        How can we recruit MORE women into the Geosynthetic Industry?

–        How can we create more opportunities in the industry for women?

–        What types of educational opportunities are out there to educate women throughout the industry?

–        Mentorship Opportunities

Panelists:

Tonya Switalski (Titan Environmental)

Kasia Zamara (Tensar)

Katie Hill (Owens Corning)

Lisa Simms (East Coast Erosion)

‍

Register: https://geosyntheticsconference.com/register/

‍

‍

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest Associate Member, GeoTesting Express (GTX).  GTX provides state-of-the-art laboratory testing facilities to measure the mechanical and physical properties of soil, rock, geosynthetics, aggregate, concreate, and other geo-materials. GTX also prides itself for its best practices and advanced testing equipment to provide fast, accurate results.  GTX offers a combination of field expertise and knowledge, backed by supervising engineers and full-service, quick responding testing laboratories to provide value to project teams.  GTX’s testing laboratory is headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts, with an additional lab located in Atlanta, Georgia and their FGI liaison is Anna Kotas, Geotechnical Engineer, who can be reached at akotas@geotesting.com.  Please help us welcome GeoTesting Express to the FGI!!!!

‍

This calculator estimates the leakage through geomembranes and composite liners with and without geomembrane defects/holes. The calculator illustrates the importance of intimate contact between the geomembrane and compacted subgrade or soil liner via different levels of contact.  The effect of wrinkles on leakage rates is also quantified using a database of wrinkle dimensions for a number of common geomembranes, which shows the presence of wrinkles can significantly increase leakage rates.

To view/download all of the FGI Calculators, please click HERE.

Listen Today at fabricatedgeomembrane.com/resources/podcasts

Join Tim Stark (Professor of Civil Engineering) and Jen Miller (Coordinator of the FGI) as they discuss the latest emerging geosynthetic industry trends and news with leading industry experts. Topics of podcasts include a wide range of geotechnical and geosythetic related applications, such as: Yeager Airport RSS Failure Case History, Drainage Geocomposites, Post Closure Care of Landfills, Leak Location Surveys, Air Channel Seam Testing, Pond Leakage Calculators, and many more!!

Tune in Today. Podcasts are available to download from the FGI Website or from the following online streaming services: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor FM, Breaker, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, & Google Podcasts.

Construction of this 67 meter high reinforced soil slope (RSS) was completed in December 2006. After seven years in-service, a tension crack was observed at the top of the slope. In March 2015 this RSS structure catastrophically collapsed. This RSS structure collapsed in a compound failure mode; as the failure plane passed beneath, partially behind, and partially through the reinforced soil mass. The RSS collapse occurred after 8.3 years in-service as the shear strength along the shale-claystone foundation interface decreased and approached the fully softened strength. This webinar will cover the forensic investigation performed, the causes of the failure and lessons learned.

Presenters:

Jim Collin, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE., F.ASCE

Ryan Berg, D.GE., P.E., F.ASCE

To register for this FREE webinar, please click here

‍

‍

‍

Check out all of the latest events, news, and industry happenings.

This first webinar Panel Discussion will assemble five (5) industry leaders to answer questions about design, specifying, factory testing, fabrication, welding, packaging, shipping, installing, field leak location testing, and maintaining factory fabricated geomembranes and geosynthetics, e.g., geotextiles, for a range of applications. The panelists will also discuss different labor rates, production per day, quality control, testing, weather impacts, wind, wrinkles and performing leak location surveys, etc. for factory fabricated versus field fabricated geosynthetics. This should result in a lively discussion about current trends in geomembranes, fabrication, testing, and installation.

Panelists:
Doug Hilts, P.E. (Hilts Consulting Group)
Patrick Elliott (Raven Industries)
Ronald Frobel, P.E., (R.K. Frobel & Assoc)
Dan Rohe (EPI)
Duff Simbeck (Simbeck & Associates)
Moderator: Timothy Stark, Ph.D., P.E. (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Register For Webinar

Free to Industry Professionals and Students

1.0 PDH