Tensar International is a worldwide leader in the manufacture and provision of soil reinforcement and ground stabilisation solutions. Our expertise and experience has been accumulated over several decades of successful collaboration in international project design and implementation. Supported by our team of qualified civil engineers, we offer proven, practical and best value answers to an extensive range of requirements.
Tensar geogrids: practical ground stabilisation solutions
Tensar Technology provides proven practical solutions and the know-how to get them built. Based on the unique properties of Tensar geogrids, Tensar Technology is widely adopted for ground stabilisation and soil reinforcement problems, delivering real savings in both cost and time. We can help you apply Tensar Technology to deliver the best value on your project.
Railway track ballast reinforcement
Expensive, disruptive and frequent maintenance is often required on railway track that overlies a soft subgrade due to the problem of settlement. Because of this, a simple and economical method of reinforcing track ballast is required.
Tensar geogrids provide an extremely cost-effective solution for the reinforcement of ballast over a soft subgrade bringing significant benefits to the railway engineer.
Tensar has extensive experience in upgrading European railway corridors. This has resulted in innovative and cost-effective solutions in railway engineering.
Reducing ballast settlement over soft subgrades
Independent research has confirmed that Tensar geogrids are an effective way of reducing the rate of ballast settlement over soft subgrades. An extensive, full-scale, independent research programme was carried out by British Rail and clearly demonstrated it:
- Tensar geogrids can help extend maintenance intervals by minimising settlement
- When using Tensar geogrids in ballast, the rate of settlement approaches that of track on a firm foundation
- The Tensar geogrid has a stiffening effect and will reduce the elastic deflections
- Unreinforced track will experience more rapid settlement and will require additional maintenance
- The use of grids with high-profile ribs can limit the lateral creep of ballast particles, reducing settlement and, therefore, the rate of deterioration of the vertical track geometry
Railway applications of Tensar geogrids
There are two major application areas for the use of Tensar geogrids – within and beneath railway track ballast:
- Direct ballast reinforcement to reduce the rate of track settlement and hence reduce maintenance cycle frequency
- Reinforcement of a granular sub-base layer beneath the railway ballast to increase the bearing capacity of the track foundation
Other benefits of the Tensar geogrid solution include:
- An alternative to increasing depth of ballast, or chemical stabilisation
- Reduction of the rate of permanent settlement
- Improved rail ballast performance allows consistent high speeds to be achieved
- Avoids excavation and replacement with thick layers of imported fill
Tensar TriAx – a revolution in geogrid technology
Tensar International has almost 30 years of experience in analysing and optimising the performance of geogrids. Drawing on this technical knowledge and expertise, Tensar has radically re-engineered the fundamental structure of geogrids to create a revolutionary new product. The TriAx geogrid is the culmination of this research and represents the future of geogrid technology, using one of the most stable forms – the triangular structure.
The unique TriAx structure incorporates several characteristics which combine to create an optimised structure that outperforms conventional biaxial geogrids in trafficking applications. When combined with a suitable aggregate TriAx produces a mechanically stabilised layer with exceptional performance.