Geomembranes - Permeability Testing

The vapour permeability testing of Geomembranes is required under UK, EU and international regulations. Not only does the membrane need to be a barrier against water and water vapour, but also it needs to act against methane, CO2 and a host of other gases and chemicals. Unfortunately all of the leeching gases react differently to every type of material or liner, and a product that is highly effective against some of them may virtually useless against another.

For example PVC is around 25 times worse as a barrier to Carbon Dioxide than it is for Nitrogen.

Geomembranes and vapour permeability testing

Versaperm equipment used to check the permeability of geomembranes

Geomembranes - uses and vapour permeability testing

It is also sensible to test any jointing seams as well as the membranbes themselves
Geomembranes can be produced using extrusion, calendering, and spread coating techniques, each of which with could produce a membrane with a different vapour permeability. This is partly due to the different physical processes involved and partially due, even if the same basic polymer is used, to the additives, such as antioxidants, plasticizers, carbon black, fillers and lubricants (which helps with the processing).

Amongst the most popular materials to use are HDPE, LLDPE, fPP, PVC, CSPE-R, EPDM-R, and others such as ethylene interpolymer alloy (EIA-R
Wikipedia currently lists all of the following Geomembrane applications areas

As a barrier to odours from landfills
As a barrier to vapours (radon, hydrocarbons, etc.) beneath buildings
As containment structures for temporary surcharges
As covers (caps) for solid-waste landfills
As covers for aerobic and anaerobic manure digesters in the agriculture industry
As covers for power plant coal ash
As cutoffs within zoned earth dams for seepage control
As flexible forms where loss of material cannot be allowed
As floating reservoir covers for preventing pollution
As floating reservoirs for seepage control
As liners for all types of decorative and architectural ponds
As liners for brine solutions
As liners for golf course water holes and sand bunkers
As liners for heap leach pads
As liners for potable water
As liners for primary, secondary, and/or tertiary solid-waste landfills and waste piles
As liners for reserve water (e.g., safe shutdown of nuclear facilities)
As liners for secondary containment of underground storage tanks
As liners for solar ponds
As liners for the agriculture industry
As liners for the aquiculture industry
As liners for various waste conveyance canals
As liners for vertical walls: single or double with leak detection
As liners for waste liquids (e.g., sewage sludge)
As liners for water conveyance canals
As linings for emergency spillways
As waterproof facing for masonry and concrete dams
As waterproof facing for roller compacted concrete dams
As waterproof facing of earth and rockfill dams
As waterproofing liners within tunnels and pipelines
Beneath and adjacent to highways to capture hazardous liquid spills
Beneath asphalt overlays as a waterproofing layer
Beneath highways to prevent pollution from deicing salts
Liners for radioactive or hazardous waste liquid
To aid in establishing uniformity of subsurface compressibility and subsidence
To conduct water flow into preferred paths
To contain and transport liquids in trucks
To contain and transport potable water and other liquids in the ocean
To contain seepage losses in existing above-ground tanks
To control expansive soils
To control frost-susceptible soils
To face structural supports as temporary cofferdams
To form barrier tubes as dams
To prevent infiltration of water in sensitive areas
To shield sinkhole-susceptible areas from flowing water
Within cofferdams for seepage control

Testing the permeability of landfill liners and membranes The geomembrane used to line landfill sites must be in compliance with the permeability requirements laid down by the EU's Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste

Click here for a press release on permeability testing for the liner membranes of land fill sites.

Click here for information on geomembranes from Wikipedia

Click here for the UK Government information leaflet on Earthworks in Landfill Engineering

Click here for Eurocode 7 (EC7) website on geotechnical design

Click here for the UK Environmental Agency's Landfill directive

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Geomembranes - Permeability Testing