Flood protection

Every day, floods occur in parts of the world and result in losses of life and property. Taking into account seasonal rainfalls and rare or unforeseen catastrophic events such as tsunamis, it is possible for planners to anticipate, and with sound civil engineering practices, to mitigate risks and plan some control over the damaging effects of floods.

We will work with you to develop:

• Dykes, levees
• Geo-barriers
• Flood mitigation structures such as:
  • Dry dams
  • Storm water reservoirs and canals
  • Conveyance tunnels

Flood protection implies using raised structures and landscape features such as retaining walls and barriers to combat and control flood forces, but also subsurface structures and surface strata fortification to control the effects of seepage, drainage and soil erosion. Geoquest solutions address all areas of soil-structure needs for planning in flood-prone environment.

Dykes or levees are active defenses against floods and constitute the most common structures built to prevent flooding and submersion. In specific situations for which the footprint has to be minimized or for high structures, Reinforced Earth® dykes and levees, either with vertical or steep faces (ArmaGreen® and ArmaStone® solutions), are solutions with proper adaptation to site conditions.

Combined with deep in-situ waterproofing techniques, Reinforced Earth® embankments become efficient geo-barriers. This applies to new built structures and also to the raising of existing structures.

The TerraDyke™ concept developed by Geoquest is a customized engineered solution particularly well adapted to the construction of dykes. This state-of-the-art technique is based on the use of geotextile tubes which constitute the core of the dykes. It is a soft solution offering the advantages of geosynthetic materials and site won fill materials.

When basal reinforcement is necessary due to the nature of the foundation soil of the structures, ArmaLynk® and ArmaGrid® geogrids will provide the right answer.

Dykes and levees are complex structures with engineering constraints related to geotechnics and hydraulics. Our geosynthetic products provide the solutions to cope with the commonly met issues as far as filtration and separation (TerraTextile™), erosion protection (TechRevetment™, TerraGreen™, ArmaWeb®), drainage (TerraFlow™) and waterproofing (TerraLine™ GCL) are concerned.

Floods can come from the sea or from rivers but they might also be the consequences of rainstorms. In such cases dry dams, reservoirs, canals and conveyance tunnels are efficient storm water management works.

Our Reinforced Earth® walls as well as our ArmaGreen® and ArmaStone® steep slope solutions represent a proven alternative to other construction methods and materials used to build flood control structures. MSE structures present the inherent advantages of economy, flexibility and speed of construction. When working in cut conditions, T-Wall® and TechWall™ precast retaining walls are convenient solutions.

TechSpan® and TechBox™ precast solutions provide similar benefits for the construction of water conveyance tunnels.

Emergency shelters

The analysis of tragic tsunamis in the past decades have shown that with proper measures, many lives could have been saved. The construction of elevated platforms to serve as shelters in urban areas is one of these measures and the intrinsic characteristics of Reinforced Earth® retaining walls made this technique a perfect solution for such structures.

The analysis of tragic tsunamis in the past decades have shown that with proper measures, many lives could have been saved. The construction of elevated platforms to serve as shelters in urban areas is one of these measures and the intrinsic characteristics of Reinforced Earth® retaining walls made this technique a perfect solution for such structures.