New in 2019!

Featuring a moderator to help keep things on track, the audience are the speakers during these sessions. These open dialogues allow you to engage with other attendees on some of the hottest topics in the industry. After the conference, notes from these discussions will be disseminated to the participants and may also be featured in Geosynthetics Magazine.This will be a fully interactive experience, join us and be heard.

Tuesday, February 12 | 8 – 9:30 am 
Geosynthetics Technology for Disaster Management: Preparedness and Rapid Recovery After Major Disasters including Hurricane Harvey
Moderator: C. Vipulanandan, Ph.D., P.E., University of Houston
How to use various Geosynthetics products and also develop new products for future applications related to the following topics/problems:
(i) Minimize soil erosion,
(ii) Control sediment transport,
(iii) Minimize/control flooding in buildings and residents,
(iv) Temporary collection of rainwater,
(v) Debris management, filtering debris out of manholes
(vi) Others

Tuesday, February 12 | 10 – 11:30 am
Incorporating Geosynthetics in Civil Engineering Education
Moderator: Jorge Zornberg, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, University of Texas at Austin
Geosynthetics are increasingly being used in many civil and environmental engineering applications such as below pavements, in embankments, retaining walls and slopes, to line landfills, reservoirs, ponds and leachate collection systems, to combat erosion and pollution, as silt fences and many other facets of earthwork. Yet, many young civil engineering graduates enter the workforce without introduction on of the use geosynthetics. This round table discussion will explore the following questions:

1) Should geosynthetics be covered in a civil engineering B.S. program?
2) If so, how much and what should be covered?
3) What are the mechanisms for providing geosynthetic resources to geotechnical engineering professors?


Tuesday, February 12 | 1:30 – 3 pm
Recall on Gecomposite Peel Testing and Specification Approach
Moderator: Richard Thiel, P.E., Thiel Engineering
Geocomposite drainage layers are ingenious materials that have been developed by manufacturers for use in civil projects. Heat lamination of the geotextiles to the geonet cores is subject to the art of manufacturing. The method of testing and specifying the quality of this lamination has evolved over time. Very little effort has gone into a detailed engineering evaluation of the durability of this interface for long term shear strength. Meanwhile, there has been, and continues to be, a large and heretofore unrecognized variability in the level of bonding created at this interface that has recently been realized. Preliminary conclusions are that the current industry standard for testing only 5 specimens across the roll width this for the lamination strength is inadequate. Proposals are needed for the type and extent of index testing that is required to adequately take into account the high level of manufacturing variability. Proposals are also needed to evaluate the long-term durability of a given level of lamination to provide reliable shear strength. Designers would then be able to take the outcome of the answers to these two requests for proposals to develop project specifications.

Wednesday, February 13 | 9 – 10:30 am
Geosynthetic Containment/Barrier Systems in the Future
Moderator: Ian Peggs, P.E., I-CORP INTERNATIONAL, Inc.
Discussions are expected to include, but are not limited to, new materials, remote monitoring, leak self-repairs, drone assistance, space applications, combined welding/testing machines, dams and other topics out of the box. No statement will be considered crazy.
Get a chair, place it where you want, sit comfortably, stand if you prefer, and no ties allowed!