Huon Valley Council is situated south of Hobart—the southernmost local government council in Australia. Esperance Coast Road was showing several signs of deterioration along its length, including deformation, cracks, and edge failure. To mitigate this, Huon Valley Council enlisted consultant Pitt & Sherry to undertake pavement investigations, focusing on the section between the Huon Highway and Police Point Road. Esperance Coast Road runs through a hilly area, with a high slope on one side and a valley on the other. High surface runoff and a lack of horizontal drainage caused the pavement to erode over time. Water accumulated in the pavement, which reduced the pavement layer’s structural capacity to support heavy traffic loads.

Consultant Pitt & Sherry and asset owner Huon Valley Council contacted Geofabrics to help with a solution to control the water ingress and improve drainage. They recommended using the GEOWEB® 3D Soil Stabilisation System to stabilise the base layer of the pavement, prevent degradation, and provide drainage. The engineers from Geofabrics worked closely with Presto Geosystems’ design team to develop a cost-effective solution for this problem, which council engineers accepted. Based on pavement investigation, a subgrade CBR 2% was considered in the preliminary evaluation.

A Geofabrics representative was on-site to provide installation assistance and support. The installers prepared the subgrade according to council specifications. A formation width of 7.6 meters was suitable to install one panel of 150-mm GEOWEB in a transverse direction. The GEOWEB panels are connected with the patented ATRA® Keys to provide positive connections between them.

One lane remained open to keep the traffic flowing while the project was underway. Half of the GEOWEB panel was expanded and secured with 500-mm-long pins. To create a horizontal drainage path through the GEOWEB-stabilised base course, 20 mm to 30 mm of crushed aggregate was recommended and placed in the GEOWEB infill.  Perforated GEOWEB cells offer high-flow capacity through the panel without compromising the structural capacity of the pavement material. Once filled, a 20-tonne truck was easily placed over the aggregate-infilled GEOWEB panels without any peformation over the surface.
 

In total, 1,400 square meters of the GEOWEB system was installed and infilled with crushed aggregate. The cellular confinement technology of the GEOWEB system improved the performance of the base layer, which also allowed the creation of a horizontal drainage layer without compromising the structural bearing capacity.

The council engineering team continues to monitor the pavement's performance with the GEOWEB-stabilised base layer and is pleased with how it is performing. Compared to conventional methods, a GEOWEB-stabilised layer allowed the pavement thickness to be reduced by 50%, reducing the number of truck movements to construct the road and thus improving its overall sustainability . It was also a cost saving not only in materials (asphalt and base) but also in transportation costs by reducing the number of cycles to the site.

GEOWEB Geocells are the most advanced soil stabilisation technology available.

The geocell technology was developed by Presto Geosystems and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to allow heavy vehicles to travel over soft ground. It is widely used for load support, erosion control, slope stabilisation, retaining walls, and high-velocity channels.

Through an interconnected honeycomb-like network, the 3D geocells confine and stabilise soils that would otherwise be unstable under loading. The GEOWEB Cellular Confinement System comes in collapsed, lightweight panels making them safe and easy to handle on project sites. 

The engineering team at Presto Geosystems works closely with civil engineers, offering free project evaluation and on-site support for load support, slope stabilization, channel protection, and retaining wall applications.

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Presto GeoSystems

670 N Perkins Street, PO Box 2399
Appleton, Wisconsin 54912-2399

Phone: 800-548-3424 : 920-738-1328

Email: info@prestogeo.com