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About Geofabrics

Laboratory Facilities

ISO9001 and UKAS certification

HPS and MPS geotextiles are manufactured in an ISO 9001 environment and quality assured to relevant BS EN ISO standards. The Company's laboratories are UKAS accredited (UKAS is the premier laboratory accreditation service in the UK and requires extremely high standards for test accuracy and repeatability). The laboratories also provide assistance to engineers wishing to identify the geosynthetic best suited to a project and can undertake performance tests (such as the cylinder test) tailor-made to the customers requirements.

Image showing laboratory facilities at Geofabrics

CE Marking

CE marking (part of the Construction Products Directive - 89/106/EEC) is intended to remove technical barriers to trade within European states. Standardisation of testing methods and procedures has been driven by the need to simplify specifications and, in turn, designing with Eurocodes.

The CE mark will provide a guarantee that, for a particular application, the properties for a product match those published by its manufacturer. This should not be confused with ISO 9001 certification, which applies to a management quality system.

All manufacturers of building and construction products in the designated European states are required to comply with the CE marking requirements. This became mandatory for geotextiles as of October 2002 and product packaging should reflect this.

Not all of the 84 potential tests for geosynthetics apply to every product. The ultimate application dictates which tests are appropriate. The CEN TC189 committee, comprising representatives from across the industry, including consultants, manufacturers, testing laboratories and universities, was responsible for establishing this criteria.

The DTLR are the awarding authority in the UK and, following a factory inspection by independent auditors to verify procedures, together with further inspections of records and equipment calibration, GEOfabrics Limited has obtained CE marking for the majority of their HPS and MPS geotextiles.

Performance Testing

The laboratory has pioneered a number of methods for simulating on-site conditions in order to evaluate the properties of different geosynthetics e.g. inclined table and trackbed.

The cylinder test (EN ISO 13719) - the laboratory has adapted and developed this test which simulates closely the long-term loading conditions on geosynthetics at the base of a landfill. This test uses the actual stone, liner and geotextile proposed for the site.

In-plane flow capacity test (EN ISO 12858) - the standard test is adapted to measure the flow rate along a geosynthetic or geocomposite using the actual soils and design loadings proposed on site.

Leachate immersion tests - samples of geosynthetics are immersed in a leachate, taken from a specific site, which is heated to simulate landfill conditions. The samples are removed at regular intervals to check for changes in properties.

  • One test has been running continuously for 8 years.

Quality Control Production Testing

The required internal quality control procedures are as follows:

Testing for production runs of HPS and MPS products in excess of 6000m2

Image showing testing for production runs of HPS and MPS products

- Every 6000m2 or one test if less than 6000m2

  Test method1 UKAS accredited2
CBR static puncture EN ISO 12236 Yes
Wide-width tensile (MD/CMD) EN ISO 10319 Yes
Cone-drop perforation EN ISO 13433 Yes
Thickness @2kPa EN ISO 9863 Yes
Mass per unit area (MPS products only) EN ISO 9864 Yes
Diagrams showing testing for production runs of HPS and MPS products

- Every 12000m2 (upon request)

  Test method UKAS accredited
Water permeability EN ISO 11058 Yes

Notes
1 See An Introduction to Geosynthetics in the Downloads section for a simple explanation for all of these test methods.
2 The tick signifies that the GEOfabrics' laboratories are UKAS accredited to carry out this test.

Additional testing that can be carried out in the Company's laboratories:

Diagrams showing additional testing
Index testing Test method UKAS accredited
Apparent opening size EN ISO 12956 Yes
In-plane flow under load EN ISO 12958 No
Long-term protection efficiency EN 13719 Yes
Image showing performance testing
Performance Testing Test method UKAS accredited
UK Environment Agency Cylinder EN ISO 12956 Yes

Tests carried out externally as part of product assessment (results can be provided on request):

  Test Method
Apparent opening size EN ISO 12956
Pyramid puncture EN 14574
Resistance to weathering EN 12224
Resistance to oxidation EN ISO 13438
Resistance to liquids EN 14030

GEOfabrics would be happy to discuss testing to other major geotextile standards such as American ASTM including grab, trapezoidal tear & water flow.

Rail Rig

image
  • 4.5m x 1.8m x 0.4m subgrade
  • Half-width sleeper
  • Three PC-driven ram actuators
  • Up to 120kN axle loads
  • Up to 12Hz application of rams
  • 1M cycles (6 day test duration) = 5 real-time years

With Department of Trade support, a testing rig has been designed and installed at GEOfabrics' laboratories to further develop and refine the performance of geotextiles and geocomposites beneath ballast.

The Company's products for track ballast applications, marketed in the UK by Aqua Geocomposites, have been proven as a robust filter/separator/drains between ballast and subgrade.

The purpose of the rig is to carry out simulations in order to gain further data on the performance of geosynthetics so that purpose-made materials can be manufactured that extend track life.

The hydraulic-powered ram actuators can be programmed to load the track dynamically to simulate anything from an empty passenger train to a fully loaded goods train, or an ultra-high-speed train of the future. Trafficking frequency - ten times per day, once per week, can also be modelled.

Results of the work will be published, as they become available.

Inclined Table

image

Interface friction characteristics between soils and geosynthetics are measured using an inclined table (ISO 12957 part II). Sustained loads of up to 200kPa can be applied at angles up to 60 degrees.