Georgia Tech Savannah based Geosystems Engineering doctoral candidate Tanay Karademir has been selected as a recipient of a 2010 Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) Fellowship. The $10,000 fellowship, which is renewable for a second year, was awarded to only four individuals following a world-wide call for proposals focused on innovative geosynthetics research. The fellowship recipients were nominated by their academic department head and are currently conducting research on a geosynthetics topic or area which promotes the proper use of the material or system being investigated.
GSI is a consortium of organizations involved with the study and use of geosynthetics and includes federal and state governmental agencies, facility owners, designers, consultants, QC and QA organizations, testing laboratories, resin and additive suppliers, manufacturers, and installation contractors. GSI currently consists has over 70 member organizations of which approximately 45% are international.
Karademir’s research focuses on the effects of elevated temperature on the behavior of geosynthetic interfaces. Environmental conditions such as temperature inevitably impact the long term performance, strength and deformation characteristics of most materials in infrastructure applications. The mechanical and durability properties of geosynthetic materials are strongly temperature dependent. The interfaces between geotextiles and geomembranes (fiber-texture interaction) as well as between granular materials such as sands and geomembranes (particulate-continua interaction) in landfill applications are subject to temperature changes due to seasonal temperature variations as well as exothermic reactions occurring in the waste body. This can be a critical factor governing the stability of modern waste containment lining systems. Historically, most laboratory geosynthetic interface testing has been performed at room temperature. Information today is emerging that shows how temperatures in liner systems of landfills can be much higher.
In response to this, an extensive research study is being undertaken at Georgia Tech in an effort to investigate temperature effects on interface shear behavior between: (a) needle punched non-woven polypropylene geotextiles and either smooth polyvinylchloride (PVC) or smooth and textured high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembranes; and (b) sands and smooth PVC and HDPE geomembranes. A unique temperature controlled chamber is being utilized to simulate the field conditions at elevated temperatures and evaluate shear displacement-failure mechanisms under elevated temperature conditions. Complementary single-filament tensile tests and surface hardness tests are providing insight into the role of temperature in the observed behavior differences.
Tanay Karademir is a doctoral candidate in Geosystems Engineering who works with Dr. David Frost in the Geomaterial Surface and Structure Characterization Lab. Karademir holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston.
Dr. David Frost is a professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and also holds administrative roles as vice provost of Georgia Tech and director of the Georgia Tech Savannah campus. His research focuses on the use of imaging and information systems to study geomaterial behavior under static and dynamic conditions at multiple scales influenced by earthquakes and other extreme events.