Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 48

GSI NEWS

By Robert M. Koerner

The GMA Techline is 15 years old
GEOSYNTHETIC
INSTITUTE
GSI's mission is to develop
and transfer knowledge,
assess and critique
geosynthetics, and provide
services to the member
organizations.

www.geosynthetic
- institute.org

T

he GMA Techline was initiated on Sept. 1, 2004, as a free worldwide answer center
for questions involving any, or all, aspects of geosynthetics. There were no constraints
put on the questioners, or on the answers that were provided by the Geosynthetic Institute
(GSI). To date, 3,500 Q and As have been provided, which averages 19.5 per month over
the 15-year period. So, as to compare and contrast the overall activity, we have done summaries in incremental sets of 500 Q and As. Thus, comparisons could be done using bar
charts to observe trends over the years. The following were specific categories focused
upon in this manner:
* Location (by continent) of the questioner
* Occupation of the questioner
* Application category of the questions asked
* Details on the unique question of lifetime/durability
* Difficulty level of the questions
Regarding the location of the questioner, the majority were from the U.S. (54%), followed by other parts of the world (varying from 2.5% to 11%). Regarding the occupation
of the questioner, the largest group was designer/consultants (38%), followed by manufacturers (19%), agencies (17%), owners (9%), academics (9%) and installers (8%). Regarding
the type of geosynthetic, geomembranes were the most often asked about at 31%, with
multiple-layered geosynthetic questions at 21%. Geotextiles (18%), geogrids (14%), drainage composites (6%), GCLs (5%) and the other three categories in the lower percentages
(1%-2%) made up the rest.
Regarding the particular focus of the questions, designs and related specifications were
most frequently asked about (32%), followed by lifetime/durability (17%), installation
(16%), strength (11%) and the other three categories for the remaining percentages (5%-
10%). Interestingly, the lifetime/durability questions have been asked about consistently
over the entire duration of the program. For each set of 500 Q and As, the percentage of
questions asked in this single category was a consistent 19% ± 2%. See Figure 1 for some
specifics in this regard.
The difficulty level of each question was ranked on a sliding scale of 1 (hardest) to 5
(easiest). While certainly subjective on our part, there were 18 1s in the most recent set of
500 Q and As (3.6%). A few have been selected for this issue of Geosynthetics.
The entire 28-page report is available free at www.geosynthetic-institute.org/papers/
paper43.pdf.

General Remarks
We usually respond to the Techline questions (gmatechline@ifai.com) within one or
two days and sometimes within hours. This rapid turnaround time often engenders
the questioner to come back against our answer with another related question. It sometimes goes back and forth for several iterations, but this is the nature of such electronic
dialogue. In this regard, the GMA Techline is analogous to questions asked during


http://www.geosynthetic http://www.institute.org http://www.geosynthetic-institute.org/papers/

Geosynthetics February/March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Geosynthetics February/March 2020

Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - Cover1
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - Cover2
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 1
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 2
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 3
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 4
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 5
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Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 50
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 51
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 52
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - Cover3
Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - Cover4
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