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When installing a new geomembrane, the occurrence of wrinkles can be said to be too common. Small wrinkles can turn into cracks under pressure. This, in turn, can compromise the integrity of the entire geomembrane installation and cause costly damage. In this article, we will take a closer look at the causes of geomembrane wrinkle formation and how to avoid them.
What causes geomembrane wrinkling?
Geomembrane wrinkles form when air is trapped beneath the geomembrane during installation. The membrane may initially appear flat. However, the trapped air heats up and expands in the sun until it pushes the geomembrane up into wrinkles. Another reason is that geomembranes arrive from the factory with inherent creases or poor flatness performance, and wrinkles appear during installation.
What to do after wrinkles have formed?
Once wrinkles form, there is no simple or cheap way to remove them. In many cases, the best option is to cut and re-weld the panels on site. However, this also brings its own challenges and is usually very expensive. You also cannot simply smooth out wrinkles by placing weight on them. This only increases the chance of wrinkles developing into full cracks.
Quality is key
So, how to stop wrinkles before they appear? The key is to choose high-quality geomembranes with good flatness and camber in production. Geomembranes with good flatness and curvature are less likely to wrinkle than those without. Even the best heat sealers cannot stop poorly manufactured geomembranes from wrinkling on site.
Understanding the details of geomembrane sources
The construction method to ensure you have better quality geomembrane products is to understand the details of the source geomembrane manufacturer. Details in the geomembrane production process can make a big difference when manufacturing and installing geomembranes. For example, geomembranes without camber are less likely to wrinkle during installation than those with. Eliminating camber depends on the alignment and winding of the geomembrane during the factory manufacturing process.
The winding of the final geomembrane for storage and transportation also differs. If your manufacturer does not properly wind the fabric, it may lead to shrinkage.
And other preventive measures that can be taken
The formation of wrinkles in unreinforced geomembranes also largely depends on the characteristics of the geomembrane. Unreinforced geomembranes are more prone to wrinkles because they do not have fabric reinforcement to provide structure and stability during manufacturing, fabrication and installation.
Site environmental conditions recommend taking preventive measures on site to help prevent wrinkles, such as aiming for the time of day to install panels when temperatures are lower at night or in the morning. And some industry associations have developed guidelines to address this issue.
Temperature, during on-site manufacturing and deployment, temperature can even cause thermal expansion of the geomembrane before the panels are installed.
Avoiding wrinkles from future geomembrane installations
The better way to eliminate geomembrane installation wrinkles is to choose the highest quality geomembrane manufacturer for your project. Ultimately, proper manufacturing and fabrication are critical to preventing wrinkles in geomembranes.
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