HYSON-CELLS

Environmental

Channel protection in harmony with nature

• Grass will not grow where it is frequently submerged. The area beneath the waterline is therefore lined with Hyson Cells filled with concrete
• The sloping bank is protected with Hyson Cells filled with no-fines concrete (for erosion protection) with grass cover seeded in the no-fines concrete for aesthetics.
• The two different concretes are laid as separate fills to a single Hyson Cells cell mat.
• No-fines concrete (NFC) without Hyson Cells has very little strength. Large NFC areas would result in severe uncontrolled cracking and slabs would break off when subjected to storm flows.
• When confined in Hyson Cells, no-fines concrete has an apparent safe velocity of up to 6 metres per second - far exceeding other vegetated solutions.
• Note that we far prefer to use no-fines concrete than to simply fill the geocell with topsoil and seed it. The attractions of just using topsoil is that it is cheaper. In practice the quality of the topsoil and adequate irrigation are also sacrificed to save costs and the project therefore risks failure. It must be clearly understood that a vegetated solution without no-fines concrete depends on the root biomass to actually do the work. Suitable plants for this purpose and adequate irrigation are critical.