Erosion Control
Stable and lasting roadway shoulders together with proper road conditions belong to the most significant factors contributing to road safety. In many countries in Europe long-time attempts have been made to solve this problem, appropriating funds to improve road safety.
According to German ADAC statistics 56 800 road accidents in which 2350 people died in 2005 were caused by unstable roadway shoulders. 150 geocell projects of reinforcing and modernizing roadway shoulders were completed in Germany in the years of 2006 and 2007 within as few as 20 months.
Such reinforced shoulder serves also well for safer cycling and pedestrian traffic. In addition to minimizing the risk significantly through a stable, resistant to lane grooves surface of controlled geometry, we can achieve economic effects through our technology as:
- Possible to use locally available compactable materials,
- Conventional subgrade is not required,
- The compact size of geosynthetic materials makes it good for transportation,
- Simple, technical methods can be used (standard plate compactors),
- Installation is fast (for example 3 persons can install more than 200 running meters per working shift).
Benefits of Cellular Confinement System on Erosion Control / Roadway Shoulder areas :
- Distributes loads laterally and reduces vertical deflection and subgrade contact pressures,
- Significantly minimizes surface rutting,
- When confined, base material requirements can be reduced by 50% or more by substantially reducing the loading on sub-surface soils,
- Controls shearing and lateral movement of the coarse and permeable infill material,
- With open aggregate infill, reduces storm water runoff and creates on-site water detention/retention basin,
- Does not require deep-soil excavation which significantly reduces costs,
- Easy to install even in difficult conditions,
- Installation does not require heavy duty equipment and small dimensions during transportation can also reduce costs,
- Reduces high stresses on the subbase as a result of the vertical load distribution on lateral distribution,
- Reduces vertical deflections, minimizing down-slope migration of particles,
- Minimizes impact of differential and overall settlement even on low-strength subgrades,
- The perforated system facilitates natural drainage and provides greater resistance to upward displacement caused by freeze/thaw cycles.
Cellular Confinement
Strengths of Cellular Confinement
The confining cell structure imparts an effective cohesion to the infill material, thereby increasing its shear strength and stiffness.
This improvement results from the hoop strength of the cell walls, the passive resistance of the adjacent cells and the high frictional interaction between the infill and the cell walls.
The cell wall structure shows improved lateral load spreading as the result of increased wall-infill interface friction.
The blocks create a flexible structure bridge system of increased stiffness.
The structural bridge results in significant improvements in the long-term performance of the load support system and helps to reduce the thickness of structural support elements.
The advantages of using cellular confinement system (geocells) for singlelayer road bases, yards or paved surfaces is the reduction of costs of ground works and infill materials.
The cellular confinement system enables also the application of less expensive on-site aggregate infill in place of more costly imported materials.
As loads are distributed through the structural bridge over the soft subgrade, the thickness and weight of structural support elements can be reduced by 50% or more in comparison to the conventional load support.
Unpaved Roads Soil Stabilization
Maintaining roads with cellular confinement system in proper conditions, not only paved surfaces but also local, forestry, fire escape routes or access roads can cause problems due to inappropriate characteristics of subsoil which can cause rutting, dents, break outs, washing out and settlements of unpaved surfaces.
A modern solution for maintenance, reconstruction and construction of roads – especially on impervious low strength soils – is the cellular confinement system (geocells).
This system brings economical and technical benefits related to the limitation of deep soil replacement, opportunity to use aggregate of lower quality (recycled quality), enabling highly effective drainage system and considerably extended operational life in comparison to the conventional solutions.
Ground improvement using 3d-cellular confinement systems can be used for the construction of permanent and temporary roads. Improving load bearing capacity of roads of granular and permeable surfaces used by heavy-duty equipment; at the same time – minimizing costs.
The system reduces the amount of surface water and replenishes groundwater supplies. Traffic or parking surfaces can be covered with vegetation, which is a very beneficial solution for the preserved areas.
Geosyntetics
What is Geosynthetics ..?
Geosynthetics are materials that available in a vide range of forms and types. These are Geocellular Confinement Systems ( Geocells ) , Geotextiles, Georgids, Geonets, Geofoam, Geomembranes and Geocomposites.
These products are designed to used in civil engineering applications such as roads, airfields, railroads, channels, dams and geothecnical applications.