Gathering of UAE's future generation engineers

H.E. Engineer Abdullah Al Shamsi welcomes the exhibiting companies at the GEOSYNTHETICS Middle East 2011

With more commitment to sustainability in Infrastructure, the GEOSYNTHETICS Middle East conference took place on 25 - 26 October 2011 with strong participation from various organisations and professionals. Under the patronage of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City and organised by SKZ the German Plastic Center, the "2011 GEOSYNTHETICS Middle East Conference" was launched with more commitment to a sustainable and environment friendly infrastructure in line with the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision.

During the opening ceremony, H.E. Engineer Abdullah Al Shamsi, Executive Director of Roads, Infrastructure and Municipal Assets of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City highlighted, that the Municipality, together with other relevant UAE government institutions and departments, participates in the evaluation and development of Abu Dhabi's consolidated standards of roads infrastructure and infrastructure projects. One of the key objectives of this project is to implement the latest economic methods in terms of cost and sustainable applications used in roads and infrastructure industry.

Within this framework, the Municipality has conducted studies to implement geosynthetics in road projects, especially the use of Geogrids to achieve stability and promote road pavements in several projects.

Geonsynthetics has played a key role with its range of generally polymeric products used to solve civil engineering problems. As a type of geosynthetics, geogrids are made of polyester or polysterene and are used to reinforce retaining walls as well as subsoils or subbases. According to Mr. Al Shamsi it was concluded, that the use of the geogrids in roads pavement yields several benefits and provides effective solutions for poor soil, high water levels and other related issues. At the same life span it provides longer road pavement service by reduced pavement thickness.

Further, geogrids reduces the pressure on the asphalt layers, cracks, distortions, groves and surface distortion. It also reduces the cost of building pavements by up to 20%, cuts the time taken to carry out pavement works, reduces risks related to pavement construction type, saves raw materials and power consumption, reduces carbon footprint, and preserves natural environment & public health. Mr. Al Shamsi added, that geogrids have now become one of the most important design options of road pavements in the projects of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City.

Nevertheless, the successful use of geosynthetic materials heavily depends on the expertise of the designing engineer and the installer on site. For this reason the organiser committee decided to invite professors and their students of leading UAE Universities to attend the conference.

For the first time, UAE students had the opportunity to attend this prime event and exchange knowledge with international experts. Reda Ashkar, Conference Chairman of the GEOSYNTHETICS Middle East conference said: "By inviting students from UAE Universities we would like to ensure, that the future generation of engineers in the Middle East has the opportunity to discuss geotechnical matters directly with the leading industry experts from around the globe and understand the importance of sustainable engineering in infrastructure projects".

With a focus on the regions infrastructure projects and environmental applications, 25 international experts presented applications and case studies on polymeric construction materials, to enhance the quality of construction projects throughout the region, increasing their value and considerably extending their service life. Furtherbalerínky