Director: Professor A. O. Abd El Halim
C-GRID was established in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carleton University in response to the active involvement of several faculty members in the area of geosynthetics applications in soil, concrete, asphalt and pipeline systems reinforcement. The objectives of C-GRID are: to conduct high quality research in the area of geosynthetics applications; to train highly qualified engineers in the field of geosynthetic reinforced systems; to disseminate research findings to targeted individuals and organizations; and to participate in the development of technologies based on research initiated at the Centre. The centre has attracted faculty members from the areas of geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering and structural engineering, with different areas of specialization within those fields. Many of the research projects have involved active participation from the variety of specialization.
Current and projected research activities of the Centre include the following items:
- Increase of uplift resistance of pipelines through the use of geogrid;
- Large scale shear box testing of the shear resistance of reinforced soils;
- Large scale pullout resistance of geogrids in granular soils;
- Long term creep response of geogrids;
- Load-deformation response of polymetric geogrids;
- Development of suitable testing equipment for the wide-strip tensile and creep testing of geogrids;
- Response of loaded concrete columns and beams with secondary polymetric reinforcement;
- Effect of geogrids on shrinkage and ductility of concrete slabs;
- Fatigue behaviour and strength of geogrid reinforced asphalt and concrete;
- Freeze-thaw response of geogrid reinforced concrete.
All of these projects have been either fully or partially financed by the geosynthetic industry. A large number of publications and theses have resulted from the above investigations.