Canal3® 8208 as a waterway lining system atSoham Lode, England, U.K.
Situation
The village of Soham is located in the Cambridgeshire Fens, a flat, low-lying area of Eastern England, where the control of groundwater has always been a top priority. In the 17th Centurythe construction of a network of Lodes, including Soham Lode, was undertaken to cater for the drainage of the area for intensive food production because of the peat soil and provision of navigable routes to carry supplies to and from the local fenvillages.
Over the centuries the peat lands have settled leaving the Lodes above ground and their banks have been burrowed into by wildlife, resulting in seepage and leakage onto the adjacent land requiring hundreds of pumping stations to maintain the drainage.
Solution
At Soham a 600m length of the Lode (approx.9500 m²) required to be re-lined with a suitable lining system in order to prevent loss of water and flooding of adjacent agricultural land. Canal3® 8208,a robust geocomposite, was specified as the most appropriate lining system.
Construction Process:
- Birse Civils Ltd.:
• Construction of two earth dams at each end of treatment area
• Water pumped through temporary bypass pipework
• Cleaning and reshaping of Lode faces (however minor debris does not harm the Canal3® lining system)
• Anchor trenches at the top of the canal slope along the canal section and cut-off trenches at the beginning and the end of the section to anchor the Canal3® material (approx. 0.6m deep by 0.45m wide)
• Filling of anchor trenches and cut-off trenches along with Canal3® installation
- Waterlines Solutions Ltd.:
• Placement of Canal3® 8208: Material was placedperpendicular to the canal • Panels, once placed, were folded back twice by about 0.5-0.6m to ensure overlap areas remain dry for proper seaming
• Seams were made using a combination of hot air welding on the overlap areas (double weld, a similar principal to wedge welding) and sealing of the seam “face” using hot melt adhesive. The hot air welding provides a secondary sealing and allows for fixing of panels and overlaps while the gluing provides the primary sealing for water tightness and the majority of seam strength due to its excellent bond with the nonwoven structure.
• Installation of up to 10 panels (approx. 700 m²) per day, including placing, a ligning, seaming, anchoring and seam testing
• Air Lance Testing: high pressure air is blown at the seam “face” after the glue has cured. This test provides an excellent indication of the continuity of the seam, while not affecting seam quality.
• Installation of steel mesh panels to prevent burrowing of animals, water voles in particular.
The advantages of Canal3® 8208 over other solutions:
- Durable composite structure, incorporating the membrane and protection nonwovens
- Requires less preparation of the canal bed
- Eliminates the installation of a protective sandlayer underneath
- Eliminates the installation of a protective layer between the liner and the steel mesh panels
Furthermore, the clean handling and ease of installation can result in an accelerated installation process and accordingly less time and cost to complete the project.
Year of Construction: Autumn 2010
Product: Canal3® 8208
Client: Environment Agency
Engineer: Opus InternationalConsultants (UK) Ltd.
Contractor: Birse Civils Ltd.
Lining Installer: Waterlines Solutions Ltd.
Contact
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