The testing and certification requirements for soil reinforcement

products in North America.

The following describes the certified data requirements needed to participate in the soil
reinforcement market in North America. The requirements in North America are mirrored in
Europe, many tests and data points are interchangeable although a certain amount of specific non-
interchangeable testing is required in each market.

The Palmetto Geosynthetic Sales and Marketing Group is expert in designing, managing and
publishing results of highest impact-lowest cost testing programs to achieve rapid market entry,
and broad market penetration. Included in the expertise of the group, and a specific service of our
activities, is the preparation and publication of information submittals to the various authorities
and the securing of product approvals by those authorities. Further, Palmetto is skilled in
organizing QC reporting in a manner that the authorities can absorb, approve and employ.
Finally, Palmetto is experienced in developing MSDS (material safety data sheets) in formats
compatible with various authority requirements.

There are three general categories of data required to sell soil reinforcement products. LTDS or
long term design strength, soil interaction and specific connection performance with facing
materials used in wall construction.

LTDS. The testing requirements are dominated by long term performance estimates and
supporting data. In North America this system is described as long term design strength (LTDS)
and in Europe the system is similar but is described in terms of factors of safety.

The LTDS equation is written as:

LTDS = Tult /
Rf Creep x Rf Installation Damage x Rf Durability where:

Tult is the tensile strength of the reinforcement

Rf is reduction factor

Creep is the estimate of long term performance. Long term performance is defined by the
earthen structure design life of 75 to 125 years.

Installation damage is the specific result of testing to determine strength loss.

Durability is the specific result of several chemical analysis protocols.

Soil interaction is the measurement of the interaction of the reinforcement product and the soil it
reinforces. The two tests measure the shearing force required to initiate failure in the reinforced
structure and the pull out force required to cause the bond between reinforcement and soil to fail
resulting in the rapid pull out of the reinforcement and subsequent failure of the structure.

Connection testing is the measurement of performance of the reinforcement with a specific facing
system including blocks, panels, gabions and other materials. As the interaction varies between
facing types and even between variations within a type such as different blocks, this testing is
specific to a given facing product.
 Costs
The cost of a testing program to meet the requirements and achieve certification of a soil
reinforcement product or a family of soil reinforcement products is greatly dependent upon the
amount of data already in hand.
Typical costs of testing.

These cost estimates are presented as a program for a program with no established data. In almost
every circumstance certain existing data, including data provided by suppliers (yarn, coating, etc)
can be included in the program thereby reducing overall costs.

Creep A typical creep program involves 18 data points over a product family including the
constituent yarn. The 10,000 hour portion requires 13 months however this period can run
concurrently while products are marketed using SIM data.

10,000 hour creep $16,000 per product family (2 data points)

SIM $14,000 per data point (14 data points)

Durability For North America the protocol requires CEG (Carboxyl End Group) and Mw
(Molecular weight) data. This information is supplied by the yarn producer and verified by 3 rd
party certification.

CEG/Mw $1,000 per product family

Installation Damage For North America this data is generated in a field testing
protocol involving installation, exhumation and the subsequent comparison of virgin to damaged
materials. In Europe a laboratory protocol is in place.

N A installation damage $10,000 per product family

Special tests Competitive market conditions require the measurement of product junction
strength.

GRI/ GG2 $200 per product

Soil Interaction The tests, test data and protocols are interchangeable between North
America and Europe.

Shear $5,000 per product family

Pullout $5,000 per product family

Connection This protocol evaluates a product of a family of reinforcements with a

single block type or other facing.

Connection $1,000 per product per block