Liner Integrity Testing: Do You Need To Test Your Geomembrane?

If you use synthetic geomembranes to line the tunnels containing your pipelines, you want to keep the liners free of anything that hinders your projects. But if you can't perform a visual inspection of the liners, you may not know if they are free of damage. You can monitor the condition of your geomembranes with a liner integrity test. Learn more about liner integrity testing and how to use it for your geomembranes below. 

What's Liner Integrity Testing?

Geomembranes and other types of liners, or barriers, play a valuable role in construction, farming, pipeline installation, and many other industries today. The liners keep substances confined to a specific area, or they redirect substances away from a specific object or structure. Although geomembranes are strong, tears and other defects can still compromise their integrity over time. 

Industries use several types of geomembranes to protect and isolate their structures, including covered and uncovered. Cover geomembranes are generally line structures that contain some type of natural or organic substance, such as water or solid waste. Uncovered geomembrane line structures don't contain natural or organic matter, such as manmade oil or lubricant.

Water, oil, and other substances can slowly degrade or break down the thin material used to construct geomembranes. The liners can eventually leak and compromise the safety, soundness, and security of structures over time.  

Companies that can't detect the damage on their own often use liner integrity testing to do so for them. 

How Do You Test Your Geomembranes?

Liner integrity testing is a unique testing method used to find or detect hidden damage in covered and uncovered geomembranes using electrical currents. Both types of barriers possess the ability to process or conduct electricity. 

The test requires a contractor to send or transmit small electrical currents through a geomembrane. A contractor uses a device or another piece of equipment to track and detect the paths of the currents. If the currents traveling through the membrane change, a contractor can isolate the location as a leak. 

A tester may use other methods to locate the problems in your geomembranes. However, liner integrity testing is generally the most effective way to detect leaks in geomembranes. You can obtain the testing you need by consulting a geomembrane testing contractor online or by phone. A contractor will need to know the location and other information about your site before they schedule your test. 

You can obtain the liner integrity testing you need by calling a contractor today.   

Contact a local company like Beyond Leak Detection for more info. 


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