Quality assurance of geosynthetic lining systems

Abstract

Why would the owner of a proposed geomembrane-lined facility agree to a cost increase of 20–40% to pay for quality assurance? Many owners now agree that the benefits of quality assurance are more than worth the extra cost. This paper describes quality assurance related to the design, manufacture, fabrication, installation and use of geosynthetic lining systems. Such lining systems are comprised of geomembranes and other geosynthetics such as geotextiles, geonets and geogrids. The need for third party quality assurance is stressed, i.e. quality assurance should be performed by a party other than the facility owner, the designer, or the geosynthetic manufacturer/installer. A special discussion is devoted to the quality assurance of the design, wherein design review by an independent organization is suggested and examples from actual installations show design mistakes which could have been identified if quality assurance had been provided. This paper is based on experience gained while conducting the quality assurance of a variety of installations as well as forensic investigations at many problem sites.