Specialty Fabrics Review November 2019 - 63

reinforced, because connections and tensile
stresses are significant. While the necessary
footprint is small, the height is limited to
about 5 feet (1.5 meters). There are several
recent variations on this theme; however,
the height of some systems is suitable only
to flooding of very minor properties-for
example, as little as one foot in height.
Interconnected polymer sheeting is the
direct replica of interlocking steel sheeting,
but uses a polymeric material, usually
polyvinyl chloride (PVC). No plasticizer is
used in the formulation, resulting in high
bending stiffness. Alternative polymers are
polypropylene and high density polyethylene.
The sheets are sequentially driven using a
lightweight pile-driving hammer to a depth
about equal to the unsupported cantilever
height. For higher heights, cable tiebacks
or rods can be attached near the top of the
sheeting and anchored behind the wall
within the retained soils. With typical heights
of 6 to 9 feet (2 to 3 meters), this system
offers the smallest footprint of these four
options. Figure 4 shows this type of wall
(also called a bulkhead) with a deck structure
encompassing it.
In summary, the traditional safeguards
against flooding resulting from hurricane
activity in coastal areas such as concrete
walls, ground raising, building raising or
simply moving to another location, are
often impossible or extremely expensive in
today's built-up flood-prone communities.
Geosynthetic systems are ongoing, effective
and cost-competitive, and being developed
and used by manufacturers and designers
alike. These strategies provide meaningful
choices to increasing threats.
Robert M. Koerner's interest in geosynthetic materials
spans nearly 40 years of teaching, writing and consulting. His pioneering work has helped generations of
educators, researchers, designers, manufacturers
and regulators. George R. Koerner is the director
of the Geosynthetic Institute in Folsom, Pa.

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Specialty Fabrics Review November 2019

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