Application sectors of nonwoven geotextiles traditionally include: construction of roads, railways, canals, water reservoirs and dams, tunnels and other underground structures; retaining structures and other geotechnical works; storage and disposal of liquid and solid waste; drainage and erosion control systems.
This Geotextiles Workshop reviewed design, specification and installation processes, and also focused on market dynamics and growth opportunities for geotextiles.
This workshop was led by Daniele Cazzuffi (CESI SpA, Milano)

Speaker name Company name	Presentation title Abstract
Daniele Cazzuffi IGS Past President CESI SpA, Italy	Introduction to the Geotextile Workshop (Keynote speech)
Steve Corbet AECOM, UK	Transportation Applications - Design, Specification and Installation
	The presentation will start with a short introduction to the types of nonwoven products used in civil engineering applications. Nonwoven geotextiles are used to solve a variety of engineering problems in Transportation Engineering. The basic functions of geotextiles will be explained, with details of how the products need to be designed and specified for some of the applications where the products are commonly used in highways, railways and waterways. Using a series of case studies the applications of nonwoven geotextiles will be explained with examples from projects in Europe and the Middle East.
Silke Brand-Kirsch Schlegel & Partners, Germany	Trends driving the nonwoven market for geotextiles
	The global market for geotextiles in 2013 is about 2.2 billions Euro and is expected to grow with a CAGR of more than 10% until 2023. Nonwoven geotextiles account for over 50% of the overall demand of geotextiles in terms of value and 65% in m2. The presentation focuses on application trends, market dynamics and growth opportunities for geotextiles. Market growth mainly results from investments in infrastructures, highest growth potentials are expected for Asia and South America due to many large-scale infrastructure projects.
Antonella Senese Università Statale di Milano, Italy	Effects of nonwoven geotextiles: pilot experiments aimed at reducing snow and ice melt at the Presena Glacier (Trento, Italy)
	Since summer 2008 a research project aimed at reducing snow and ice ablation has been developed at the Presena Glacier (Adamello Group, Trentino). In particular in summer 2012 a new experiment was performed to test the effectiveness of 5 nonwoven geotextiles (named Covertess ICE) characterized by different composition and mass per unit area. The 500 polypropylene coverage (characterized by the highest mass per unit area) resulted featuring the maximum efficacy and it also witnessed the highest albedo values (i.e. reflected solar radiation) and lowest temperatures.
Mikael Møller Fibertex Nonwovens, Denmark	Geotextiles in Africa - Experiences from supplying large projects
	The most recent project is the supply of geotextiles for separation and geomembrane protection to the Kusile Power Station Project in South Africa, one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world. The presentation will describe some of the challenges of the processes of designing, specifying, supplying and installing geotextiles that we faced in order to qualify for this complex EUR 12 bn project. This include how global design rules can be adjusted to meet the local conditions, the quality management needed to fulfill technical requirements, but also increasingly the requested parameters of less technical nature, like environmental impacts (carbon footprint), Corporate Social Responsibility (impact on local lives and economy) and communication items.
George Arditzoglou Thrace Group, Greece	Geotextiles applications to Owens Lake (South California, USA) for dust mitigation
	Owens Lake is a 285 km2 mostly dry lake bed in Southern California, USA and the site of one of the worst PM-10 airborne dust sites in North America. The project challenges included a remote location, sensitive (quick) clay soils and dry salt-laden lake bed sediments. One of the creative methods derived to control windblown dust particles was the use of a nonwoven geotextile layer in combination with a gravel cover, consisted of approximately a 0,10 m layer of stone from a nearby quarry. Remote location, tough construction conditions, and demanding construction timeline, were the challenges that had to be confronted.
General discussion led by Daniele Cazzuffi, IGS Past President, CESI SpA, Italy
	Daniele Cazzuffi Leader of the Geosynthetics and Environmental Geotechnics group at CESI SpA in Milano. Since 1981, he has been involved in research and design programs, regarding the use of soils, geosynthetics, related products and associated technologies in many practical applications in Italy and abroad, particularly in the field of geotechnical and environmental engineering. He is author or co-author of more than 200 papers and an active member of many different national and international technical committees. In particular, he was President of IGS (International Geosynthetics Society) from 2002 to 2006 and he was recently elected President of CEN (European Committee on Standardization) TC 189 on Geosynthetics for a three-years mandate from 2012 to 2014. Moreover, since 2007 he is Chair of the Scientific and Advisory Committees of RemTech, the international event on remediation technologies and territory requalification that takes place every year in Ferrara, Italy.