JOURNAL ARTICLES

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI), based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has concluded its first student internship program. The main objectives of the program are to introduce future civil engineers to the field on geosynthetics and to provide a connection between possible employers and the many undergraduate and graduate students at the UIUC.

The founders of the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute determined to test materials in field use and partnered with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This project is investigating 30 year durability of PVC geomembrane at a reclamation site near Hibbing, MN.

Northeastern British Columbia could, by most definitions, be considered the middle of nowhere. Tumbler Ridge (pop. 2,710), a district municipality in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies bordering Alberta, is and was from its inception in 1981 all about coal. And like many a town with a single major industry, it waxes and wanes on the strength of that industry.

This paper presents a comparison of single- and multi-interface strength tests for a proposed landfill liner system configuration. The test results are also used to illustrate the effect of different soil types and GCL hydration on the peak and large displacement strength envelopes.

The ability to analyze and compute factors of safety for slopes has increased greatly in the last decade. This ability has increased to the point that factors of safety can be computed using even complex limit equilibrium methods, such as Morgenstern and Price (1960), which used to be too computationally intensive for microcomputers; the finite-difference method, such as FLAC/Slope; and the finite-element method, such as PLAXIS.

Geosynthetics are useful and versatile materials that have found a range of applications in transportation projects (Berg and Suits, 2000). Geosynthetic materials can decrease project costs and project time; increase design life, stability, and range of acceptable borrrow material; and improve performance - important given the large backlog of infrasturcture projects and limited funding.