In the past decade, global oilprices have risen, and at timesthey have spiked dramatically.The generally upward trend inprices has helped make new exploration and research anddevelopment in oil extractiontechnologies more economicaland desirable. One of the mostimportant developments forthe global supply has been thesuccessful extraction and re-fining of oil sands deposits.

Oil sands (sometimes referred to as tar sands or bituminoussands) represent an enormousamount of the world’s availableoil supply. While Saudi Arabiaand other Persian Gulf nationsare renowned for their tradi-tional petroleum supply produc-tion, Canada is king in oil sands. By some estimates, Canada pos-sesses more than 70% of the recoverable oil sands deposits (177 billion barrels).

One of the great challenges foroil sands recovery is the remotelocations and harsh environ-ment in which the deposits arebased. Discovery, establishmentof safe operations, transporta-tion, and refining can be diffi-

cult, particularly in the northernreaches of Canada in whichmany large oil sands depositshave been found. Consider that75% of Canada’s 33 million citizens live within 100 miles ofthe southern border with theUnited States; yet, Canada is thesecond largest country (in termsof land area) and possesses thelongest coastline of any nation.

NAUE GmbH & Co. KG alongwith its partner and customerBrock White, has helped makeoil sands access, extraction, and transportation possible. InNorthern Alberta, for example,where some of the world’s mostdependable oil sands depositsare located, NAUE’s Secugrid®

and Combigrid® geogrids havebeen utilized for reinforcementof access roads, site compounds,and working platforms.Global oil price rising and theuncertainty of Middle Easternsupplies (due to ongoing politi-cal instabilities) have put extrapressure on the Canadian indus-try to respond with increasedproduction. True, Canada isknown for its cold temperatures,but the threat of an early thawcan put some oil sands produc-tion zones in danger. This win-ter, by Canadian standards, wasfar too mild and created analarming situation. If the sitesoils, or soils on the rural trans-port routes, thaw too quickly,the already-poor soil may be too

soft for safe, stable work. NAUE'srapid response helped deliver vi-tal reinforcement and stabilisa-tion geogrids to one such threat-ened site in Alberta, which isthe most productive of Canada’soil sands-producing provinces.

The suddenly warmer ground led to an order for 400 rolls of Secugrid® 30/30 Q1. That’sequivalent to 190,000m²—not asmall order, but one that neededto be filled quickly. The northernproduction was in jeopardy ofbeing halted by the thaw, so fast delivery to Calgary was re-quired. Characterised by veryhigh strength at low elonga-

tions, Secugrid® is used in theconstruction of roads, levees,walls, wind turbine footings, veneer stability, and other challenging load-managementapplications. The monolithic flatpolymer bars used to make Secugrid® are extremely robustand have excellent chemical re-sistance. They were an excellentmatch for this oil sands devel-opment site. NAUE’s Canadianand US project partner networkresponded quickly and coordi-nated with NAUE’s Germany-based headquarters to determinethe best supply strategy for thishigh-priority project. The 400rolls were shipped from German

factory to Leipzig, and fromthere flown to Calgary Interna-tional Airport. Like the oil in-dustry’s structure itself, a highlevel of international coordina-tion and delivery ensured thefastest, most dependable supply.The geosynthetic solution wasdelivered to the site one weekahead of schedule. Ultimately,the client was able to be offsitea week earlier than planned. Thework did not suffer from thethaw and the next oil sands pro-ject could be planned properly.

Anything is possible – not justfor the young German footballteam that treated the whole ofEurope to such refreshing foot-ball before sadly losing to Italyin a semi-final shoot out at the Euro 2012 championship.Geosynthetic manufacturers arealso sometimes faced with challenges that at first sightseem to be "impossible".

Fast Transport to CanadaAn inquiry of this kind reachedus not long ago when we wereasked whether we could supply190,000m² of Secugrid® geogridsto a building site in Canadawithin one week. With a bit ofluck and a major effort by ourproduction, logistics and order-processing departments, the rolls of Secugrid®, some of whichwere already in stock, were pal-letised and flown from Leipzig,Germany to Calgary on a spe-cially chartered freight plane. The goods arrived on time at thebuilding site.

New: Secutex® EDF for rail con-structionAnything is possible-appliesequally to our new product de-velopments. Secutex® EDF 5000was developed as a new type ofcomposite material specificallyfor use in railway construction.The core of the product consistsof a filling made up of highlyelastic granules that ensure

long-term elasticity and whichcan be used as an alternative tothe traditional sub-ballast mats.With its filtration and separationfunctions, Secutex® EDF 5000actively drains off penetratingwater like a drainage mat. And, its rubber core reduces the vibration transmissions withinrail structures. The integrity andquality of construction is im-

proved, and long-term mainte-nance needs and costs are re-duced.

New: Bentofix® X – eXtraCoatedAnother new item is Bentofix®X, a geosynthetic clay barriermaterial with an "eXtra" poly-meric coating protection againstgas emissions, ion exchange,root penetration, bentonite des-iccation, and bentonite pipingunder difficult hydraulic con-ditions and with high watercolumns. The polyolefin coatedsurface has also been developedwith an embossed structure. Thisrough surface provides a betterfriction angle for high-perfor-mance use on embankments andslopes. These new developments againdemonstrate that anything ispossible. There are so many po-tential ways of using thesegeosynthetics, and so many po-tential further developments.Despite a history of geosynthetic

innovation, we are really onlyscratching the surface of whatthese materials are capable ofand bringing these advance-ments to the market.

New: Indian representative officeAs we reported in the last NAUENews, a new production site wasopened last year in Malaysia,which started producing ben-tonite mats in April 2011. Thisyear we have increased our Far East commitment with theestablishment of a representativeoffice (a liaison office) in India.India is one of the fastest-devel-oping states, and with 1.2 billioninhabitants rivals China for theworld’s most populous country.Environmental protection andinfrastructure are rapidly gain-ing in importance and are pre-conditions for further economicgrowth in this country.Even if the economies of Europeare not too promising due to thenever-ending debates about theeuro’s future, the opportunities

for export-oriented companiesremain strong, especially in theMiddle East and Far East. In thisway, not only is German indus-try helping the highly dynamiceconomic growth in these re-gions, the weakness of the eurohas its positive side from an exporter's point of view. TheNAUE sales team is truly inter-national, so is able to compen-sate for weaknesses in some re-gions, such as Southern Europe,by increased sales in regionsoutside Europe. That is why weremain optimistic for 2012. Wewish all our readers a pleasant,stable summer, and we hope youall enjoy a successful secondhalf to the year.

Anything is Possible!

Cheers to Temporary Reinforced-Earth Construction

Award-Winning Embankments at Port Hedland, Australia

Increasing Stability for East-West Trafficand Trade

No Project Too Big or Too Small

Ring Road III, Helsinki, Finland

Further information:www.naue.com

CONTENT

A Stable Foundation for Canada’s Oil Sands Industry

The latest news magazine from the GroupIssue 39 · Juli 2012 · 16th year [23nd English translation]

Rotkäppchen [Little Red RidingHood] is one of the most pop-ular German sparkling wines.However, engineers working at the winery did not feel like celebrating when a slope hadto be secured for the construc-tion of a building extension.There was not enough spacefor a drilling rig. How couldthey get concrete support pil-lars into the subsoil? The solu-tion: a mecahnically stabilisedearth (MSE) construction withthe aid of the “NAUE STEEL T”system.

The cellars for Rotkäppchen inFreyburg (Germany) are situatedin the northernmost wine grow-ing area of Germany, the Saale-Unstrut region. Sparkling wineshave been made here since1856. Rotkäppchen sparklingwine is among the most suc-cessful brands of Eastern Ger-many and continues to expand.To support the company’sgrowth, the foundation stone fora new administrative buildingwith a cafeteria was laid in2011. The modern concrete andglass building will be 30 x10mand will be erected directly

behind the courtyard of the winecellar. The space there is verylimited and the neighbouringmountain slopes had to be se-cured in a permanent manner.

Concrete pillars of up to 15m in length and a diameter of 1.2mwere needed. The operating andworking weight of the drillingrig required for pillars of thissize is almost 100 tonnes andrequires a stable base.

A ramp/concrete wall was con-sidered as a possible support solution, but the engineering company IBH – Herold + PartnerIngenieure from Weimar, Ger-many worked up an alternativesuggestion: a temporary, ap-proximately 7m high MSE-construction. This solution wasable to be implemented with theNAUE STEEL T reinforcementsystem. IBH took over the staticcalculations and planning.

Constructing this steep wall required the utilisation of NAUE STEEL T’s factory-foldedQ 257A structural steel latticemats for permanent formwork.Behind them, a GRK 3 nonwo-

ven geotextile was installed toprotect against water infiltra-tion. The NAUE Secugrid® 120/40 R6 geogrids, which pro-vide the primary reinforcementstrength of the STEEL T system,were installed from the insideand folded at the steel grids. TheSecugrid® was anchored into the ground 6m deep with a 0.5mspacing between layers.

This solution created a strong,stable temporary drilling anddriving base for the drilling rig(BG 28). The drilling was doneinside a protective pipe (per DIN1536). The distance from thedrilling location down to thefirst layer was ≤0.5m. The drilledpiles went down approximately8m below the reinforced-earthconstruction into the existing

subsoil. The smallest distance tothe front edge of the MSE con-struction was 1m.

There were no problems duringthe drilling and the pouring ofthe concrete. The drilling holesremained stable, despite theheavy weight of the drilling rig. Of note this construction ap-proach did not require any

undue additional amounts ofconcrete; there was no de-formation to the MSE front; the construction team reportedno difficulties in the drillingprocess; and there was no de-formation detected in the con-struction.

After the concrete was poured,the MSE wall was dismantledcompletely. The exposed con-crete columns took on the sup-port function. The NAUE STEELT reinforcement system neededto be in place for only 8 weeks,which provided an enormoustime advantage when comparedto original earthen ramp/con-crete wall proposal. In addition,the MSE solution was by far amore economical solution.

Cheers!

The Utah Point Berth Project(UPBP) at Port Hedland innorthern Western Australia in-volved the development and operation of a common userbulk export facility, primarily to serve the mining industry inthe Pilbara region.

Utah Point works with a numberof emerging commodities pro-ducers of Western Australia andprovides a new facility for exis-ting Port Hedlands exporters.The throughput of these facili-ties is expected to be approxi-

mately 17 million tonnes perannum of various bulk productsbut predominantly iron ore andmanganese.

For the construction of the mainstockyard and access roads atUtah Point, extremely soft claysoils (such as within the area’smangrove wetlands) needed to be overcome. The clay foun-dation soil was highly plasticwith undrained shear strengthof approximately 10kPa. Embankment heights up to 5m,combined with exceptionally

high live loads(e.g., 100 tonneore loaders) chal-lenged the designteam to find ane c o n o m i c a lmethod for em-bankment sup-port.

BBG BauberatungGeokunststoffeGmbH & Co. KGselected a laid geogrid made ofstretched, mono-lithic polyester(PET) flat or pro-file bars withwelded junc-tions (Secugrid®)to meet this de-manding applica-tion. Long-termembankment sta-bility and sup-port was essen-

tial; NAUE Secugrid® fit thespecification perfectly.

The polyester (PET) Secugrid®400/40 R6 & Secugrid® 120/40R6 geogrids were designed intothe embankments such that thevertical loads exerted by the em-bankment on the soft founda-tion soils were transferred intothe horizontal geogrid layers. Interestingly, the mangrove sub-grade was so soft that instal-ling the reinforcement geogrids rolls was itself quite a challenge.Conventional heavy equipment

could not be parked around thesite. Swamp dozers and speciallydesigned ‘low pressure’ buggieswere brought in to deploy thegeogrids across the stockyard sothat enough bearing strengthcould be achieved for the restof the site’s construction.

Ertech Pty Ltd. & Bierty Pty Ltd.installed approx. 500,000m² ofSecugrid® over the Utah Point’swork zone.

Not only the site successfullycame online, but the Port Hed-land Port Authority and PINCGroup (Project Management)even won the Australian Engi-neering Excellence Award in the “Resource Development”Category for the Utah Point

Multi-User Bulk Export Facilityproject.

Environmental ProtectionNow in full operation, UPBP’sstockyard isn’t supported by just geogrids; the site is alsoprotected by geosynthetic clayliners (GCLs). The stockyardserves as an essential pre-exportstorage zone for mined ores(e.g., chromite, manganese). Asleachate from the ore piles is apotential threat to the mangrovewetlands, a GCL barrier protectsthe soils.

For the critical leachate contain-ment area, Global Synthetics PtyLtd. supplied and Ertech in-stalled nearly 100,000m2 ofNAUE Bentofix® GCL at a min-

imum 300mm below the fin-ished floor level. The high-swelling powder sodium ben-tonite core of Bentofix® and the durable, needlepunchednonwoven geotextile protectionlayers provide a level of barrierprotection that outperforms significantly thicker compac-ted clay liners in service life,impermeability, and project economics.

Utah Point rests on firmerground, thanks to Secugrid®;and the site provides exem-plary environmental security,thanks to Bentofix®.

2

Award-Winning Embankments at Port Hedland, Australia

Cheers to Temporary Reinforced-Earth Construction

Saving time and money with bored piles

The southwestern region of Romania is part of the histori-cal “Banat” region in CentralEurope. This ethnically diversearea, which is part of the Pan-nonian Basin (including theRivers Danube and Tisza) in-cludes portions of Romania, Serbia and Hungary. In recentyears, it has experienced something of an economic and infrastructure boom, having become a popular route for tra-velers and trade to and fromWestern Europe. The Romania-Hungary border crossing atNadlac, in particular, has beenknown for its crowdedness.

It serves the majorcities of Banat,Arad and Timisoara.Traffic congestionhas been a pro-blem.

As part of a largerdevelopment pro-gram, a bypass forArad was designedto connect DN 69(to Arad’s south)with DN 7 (north-west). This wouldeliminate most ofthe congestion thatNadlac road traffichas caused onArad’s city streets.

ConstructionConstruction in-volved 12,083kmof new, four-lane

highway, each lane of whichwas designed to be 5.75m wide.One cantilever constructionbridge was built over the MureșRiver with 3 spans (95m, 180mand 95m). Another 12 bridgesand passages, 37 culverts and 4connections with other majorroads were also included. Morethan 200,000m3 of top soil wasexcavated for a total volume ofembankments of 1,500,000m2.

In the final stages of the pro-ject, the construction companies(a joint venture of FCC Construc-tion S.A. and Porr Bau GmbH)built an impressive volume of

60,000-70,000m3 of embank-ments per week. The site’s soilspresented a major challenge,however. In some areas they ex-hibited mono-granular sandwith a high potential of lique-faction. Combined with the de-mand for high embankmentswith a small footprint (up to9.5m high, such as with bridgeaccess ramps), the site requiredthe design and construction ofmany retaining walls of various

inclinations (45 to 83 degrees).Reinforcement was essential.NAUE’s high modulus polyestergeogrids, Secugrid®, were spec-ified. The Secugrid® line offeredsignificant ranges that could bematched to each wall’s stabilityneed. Nominal tensile strengthswere selected from 40kN/m to120kN/m.Overall, more than 300,000m2

of Secugrid® 40/20 R6 rein-forcement geogrids were utilized

for the 45° and 60° retainingwalls. The 45° retaining wallswere constructed using the“wrap around” method (and included 55,000m2 of robust Secutex® R 151 C geotextile onthe outer face).

The 83° retaining walls usedmore than 200,000m2 of Secu-grid® 120/40 R6 geogrid alongwith the NAUE BLOCK facingsystem, which incorporates gra-

vity stones. KB-Blok (Czech Re-public) supplied the 89,000 gra-vity stones, which correspondedto approximately 7,500m2 of re-taining wall facings.

The project opened earlier thisyear and has successfully alle-viated urban traffic pressures onArad while allowing tourist,commuter, and commercialgoods traffic to continue to in-crease in this growing region.

Geomembranes are manufac-tured in a variety of formula-tions and thicknesses to meet theengineering, environmental andperformance needs of many dif-ferent applications. These appli-cations include landfill linings,brownfield remediation caps,reservoir seals, industrial pro-cessing pond containment, andmany others. But while many ofthese installations occupy verylarge spaces, geomembranes arealso used on a smaller scale forthe security and conservation ofwater resources on decorativeponds, such as commonly foundon golf courses and in ornamen-tal fish ponds.

For a client in Brunei, the con-struction and engineering groupC. Tech Sdn specified 1.5mmthick Carbofol® geomembranesfor the protection of a client’sornamental koi pond. The clientwanted a pond that utilized natural processes (bio-filtration) to keep the water clear of algaeblooms. A geomembrane con-tainment solution was designedinto the project to add long-term water conservation and a heightened ability to monitor the

pond’s cleanliness. Carbofol®’shigh chemical resistance, strongstress crack resistance, excellentelongation, and smooth and em-bossed surface availability hasmade it a versatile geomembranefor major applications over thepast 40 years. NAUE News hasoften profiled the larger appli-

cations, such as landfill con-struction and capping. But thegeomembrane qualities soughtin large projects (e.g., strong UV-resistance or long-term durabil-ity) are not all that differentfrom what is needed on smallerscale projects: dependability, environmental protection and

performance. The sealed koipond is flourishing today withdecorative vegetation. The wateris clean, the fish are healthy, and the client is happy.

Increasing Stability for East-West Traffic and Trade

3

NAUE Cooks Up Safer GCLswith Longer Service Lives

How are chefs and engineersalike? Both know that thequality of individual compo-nents alone is not enough; one must understand how to properly bring them together.

When selecting a compositematerial like a geosyntheticclay liner, the manufacturer’sknowledge of how to bringhigh-quality components to-gether is critical. NAUE’s latest innovation is a recipe for barrier system success:Bentofix® X Coated GCLs.

The low-permeability polymerpolyolefin coating of Bentofix®X provides heightened pro-tection against desiccation,root penetration, ion ex-change, bentonite piping indifficult conditions and highwater gradients, etc.

This coating innovation is the newest ingredient in theBentofix® product series,which has long been definedby the exceptional perform-ance of the main components:high-quality powder sodiumbentonite, two extremelydurable geotextile layers, and scrim reinforcement… allbrought together by NAUE'saward-winning, patented needle-punching method and further secured by a ThermalLock process.

The end result of Bentofix® XCoated GCLs? An eXtra factorof safety, eXceptional per-formance, eXtended servicelives, and eXpanded possibil-ities.

No Project Too Big or Too SmallGeomembranes show their excellence in sealing fish ponds

Did you know…?

Ring Road III is an importanthighway in Southern Finland.It is the outermost of three belt-ways (Ring I-III) in the Helsinkiregion, and it lies across the four Finnish municipalities ofKirkkonummi, Espoo, Vantaaand Helsinki. Shaped like anarch, the road is 46km long, ofwhich only a very small fractionpasses within the borders ofHelsinki itself.

The importance of Ring III hasgrown since the 2008 openingof one of Europe’s most modernseaports, Vuosaari Harbour. Viaa link road, Ring III is connectedto the harbour gate, routingheavy traffic away from the cityand reducing congestion on theInner Ring Road.

Ring III is also part of the E18project, which has been a bigimprovement in the Europeanroad network, connecting Eu-

rope and the UK to Russia viathe Nordic Countries.

The most recent constructionwork carried out in 2011 hasbeen extensive renovation on itsbusiest stretch in Vantaa. Indus-trial development along the

road has introduced higher volumes of heavy traffic whichrequired several interchanges to be built or improved andlanes to be added.

The road widening was plannedas an embankment with side

slope inclinations of 1:1.5(33.69°). In one area an existingelectrical tower of a 400kVpower line was located directlyin the zone of the planned em-bankment slope. These condi-tions required a special solutionto reduce the footprint of theroad embankment. The first ideawas to construct concrete re-taining walls in the area of theelectrical tower, but this wouldhave been challenging, espe-cially with regard to the pro-jected overall costs and the timeschedule of the constructionworks.

NAUE offered an alternative solution which considered the side slope of the embankmentto be built as a steep geogrids-reinforced earth structure withinclinations of 2:1 (63.4°). BBGBauberatung GeokunststoffeGmbH & Co. KG provided thepreliminary design and the finaldesign was executed by RambollFinland Oy.

This unique solution consistedof high-strength PET Secugrid®60/60 geogrids used in combi-

nation with a galvanized steelmesh facing. The geogrids were installed using the “wraparound” method with verticalintervals of 0.5m across the 5m-high road embankment.

To prevent erosion of the fillmaterial in the facing area, a Secumat® ES 601 G4 erosion control mat was placed directlybehind the steel mesh.

As part of the projects’ QualityControl (QC) programme, sam-ples of the supplied geogridwere taken on site, which werethen sent to a certified lab tocarry out conformance testing.The construction works for thegeogrids-reinforced embank-ment were finished within threeweeks, saving the contractortime and money versus all otherproposed solutions.

Ring Road III, Helsinki, Finland

4

September 16. - 19.09.12 Eurogeo5, Valencia Spain 26. - 28.09.12 Geotechnika - 2012 - Geotechnics Slovakia26. - 29.09.12 32. Baugrundtagung, Mainz Germany

October08. - 11.10.12 7th Asian Pacific Landfill Indonesia16. - 17.10.12 Deutscher Straßen- und

Verkehrskongress 2012, Leipzig Germany30.10. - 02.11.12 ICGI Wollongong 2012,

International Conference on GroundImprovement and Ground Control Australia

November08. - 09.11.12 Sächsisches Altlastenkolloquium, Dresden Germany27. - 30.11.12 Pollutec, Lyon France

Our recently published flyer “Renewable Wind Energy and Geosynthetics” illustrates how Secugrid® and Combigrid® are installed in the construction of windfarms. It also shows and explains the economical and environmental benefitswhen using geosynthetics for soil reinforcement.

Please contact us if you are interested in receiving an issue.E-Mail: info@naue.com

Geosynthetics in Airport Construction – The New Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport

NAUE's new HD-quality film focuses on the increasing needfor geosynthetics in airport modernisation and construction.

At www.naue.tv, NAUE’s dedicated archive for informationalvideos on geosynthetic materials and applications, learn aboutthe latest updates to the International Civil Aviation Organiza-tion (IACO) guidelines regarding runway side-strips and howthose guidelines have been met by geosynthetic engineering so-lutions at the new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport.

A flyer on this project with additional site details is also available. Contact info@naue.com to obtain a copy, and visit www.naue.tv to see the latest videos.

The information contained herein is the best to our knowledge, true and accurate. There is no implied or expressed warranty. ©2012 by NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, Espelkamp-Fiestel, Germany · All rights reserved.Editor: Management. Implementation: Department for Marketing. Circulation: 2000, Design/Production: TwoTypes². Bahnhofstr. 14, 32312 Lübbecke, Germany. Reproduction, including extracts, may only be made with the prior permission of the publisher.

Did you know…?

Did you know…?

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