ABG present at the Geosynthetics Symposium in Hong Kong

Alan Bamforth Managing Director of ABG was invited to present recently at a Geosynthetics Symposium in Hong Kong

The symposium on the 6th June 2018 , entitled ‘ A Day with Geosynthetics’ was one of a series organised by Professor Albert Yeung of the University of Hong Kong and was attended by 120 engineers.

This technical symposium was an occasion where engineers were able to appreciate various types of geosynthetics, including geotextile, geogrid, geocomposite drainage, geomembrane, etc., to understand their material characteristics, to learn the applications and designs of these products, to review case histories, to understand the current limitations of geosynthetics and to look forward future developments.

Unusual for such and event, the delegates were able to get ‘hands-on’ with models of the various materials during the extended break periods. ABG had a model of a hard rock tunnel illustrating the use of Cavidrain for wall and invert drainage.

Alan’s presentation entitled ‘Designing with Geocomposite Drainage’ was very well received and covered the important properties for each application and the relevant test methods that establish sufficient performance of the system in real working conditions by tests and analysis performed with boundary conditions as close as possible to the site conditions. Factors like installation damage and the long-term creep performance of the products can now be addressed by state of the art test methods and taken into consideration in the selection and design process.

In the previous 30 years geosynthetic drainage has established itself as a viable alternative for drainage stone in different structural and heavy civils applications:

• Back of Wall Drainage;
• Tunnel Invert Drainage;
• Fill slopes and Embankment Consolidation Layers;
• Green Roofs;