SUBMERGING HIGH RESISTANT GEOMEMBRANES AS CONTAINMENT BARRIER CLOSURE DAMS BAKU – AZERBAIJAN

This article will explain the experiences by submerging a high resistant geomembrane at a large closure dam as containment barrier. Geosynthetics were used to cover the new constructed closure dam in the Boyuk Shor Lake in order to prevent new oil pollution entering the remediated lake. A lot of project challenges had to be taken into account, knowing the transport of materials and equipment, working method, suitability of the subsoil, weather circumstances, etc. The objective was to install a high resistant geomembrane (XR- 5) as an artificial barrier against oil and severe pollutions entering the remediated lake from outside. To ensure the durability the geomembrane was protected by a non-woven geotextile at both sides of the geomembrane (subsoil and top). By means of winches and cables all geosynthetics were put in place, submerged and installed under water. In May 2015 the project was successfully finished in total building period of less than two years. This paper describes the approach within the constraints of all challenging circumstances.