Overview of corps of engineers waste containment activities involving geosynthetics

Containment has proven to be a viable option for remediating many hazardous waste sites. The US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) has been involved in the design and/or construction of more than 40 landfill remediation projects for Superfund projects and military installations since 1982. Geosynthetics have played a major role in the success of these projects. This paper focuses on COE involvement in various environmental restoration programs which use geosynthetics and the activities being conducted to further advance the state-of-the-practice in geosynthetic engineering. Geosynthetic guidance development and training by the COE are discussed along with examples of geosynthetic containment applications. In addition, geosynthetic design and construction issues related to geomembrane seam testing, interface friction testing, test sections, quality assurance/quality, control (QA/QC) and monitoring are discussed. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.