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PROPERTIES OF GEOSYNTHETICS

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILE

The physical properties which are of prime interest are as follows:
(i) Specific gravity
(ii) Mass per unit area (weight)
(iii) Thickness
(iv) Stiffness
(i) Specific Gravity –The specific gravity of a polymer, from which the geosynthetic is manufactured, is
expressed as a ratio of the weight of a given volume of material (without any voids) to weight of an equal
volume of distilled de-aired water at a temperature of 27 degree centigrade as per the relevant Indian
standard. The specific gravity of a base polymer is an important property since it can assist in identifying
the base polymer of the geosynthetics. It also helps in calculating strength–weight and cost–weight ratios.
In case of polyethylene (PE), specific gravity, or more correctly density, is an important property, since it
forms the basis upon which PE is classified as very low, low, medium or high density. Typical values of
specific gravity of commonly used polymeric materials are given as follows. When there are additives the
specific gravity of the resulting polymer may be higher or lower than that of the base polymer depending
on the specific gravity and proportion of additive used. It is to be noted that the specific gravity of some
of the polymers [polypropylene (PP) and (PE)] is less than 1.0, which is a drawback when working with
geosynthetics in under water applications; that is, some of them may float.
Material Polypropylene (PP) Polyethylene (PE) Polyester (PET) Polyvinyl Chloride(PVC)
Specific
0.90 – 0.91 0.91 – 0.96 1.22 – 1.38 1.3 – 1.5
Gravity

Specific gravity of solid plastics is determined in the form of sheets, rods, tubes, molded items by
displacement method. When plastics are available in the form of crystals then density bottle or
pycnometer can also be used for the determination of specific gravity. In case of products that float in
water due to their specific gravity less than 1, some sinkers are used so that they may sink into the water.
For conditioning, the test specimen is kept at 27°C ± 2°C and relative humidity of 50 ± 5% for not less
than 40 hours prior to test. The same conditions of temperature and humidity are tried to be created in the
laboratory at the time of testing.
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The weight of the specimen is taken in air (W1) and then it is immersed in air-free and distilled water.
The weight of the specimen in water is then observed (W 2). The specific gravity will be calculated as
follows:
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐ifi𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑆𝑆𝑡𝑦 = 𝑊1
𝑊1 − 𝑊2
If a sinker is used in case of plastic having specific gravity less than water, then it is calculated as follows:
𝑊1
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐ifi𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑆𝑆𝑡𝑦 =
𝑊1 + 𝑊3 − 𝑊2
W1 = weight of specimen without sinker in air
W2 = weight of specimen and sinker completely immersed in water
W3 = weight of fully immersed sinker in water

(ii) Mass per unit area

Mass per unit area is the proper term used for the weight of the geotextile. It is usually given in units of
gram per square meter (g/m2). The mass per unit area of a geotextile is determined by weighing square
test specimens of known dimensions, cut from various locations over the full width of the laboratory
sample. Linear dimensions should be measured without any tension in the specimen. Normally the
specimen is placed on the table during measurements. The calculated values are then averaged to obtain
the mean mass per unit area of the laboratory sample. The results should be accurate to 0.01 g/m 2. The
number of test specimens shall be a minimum of five and not more than ten. The total geotextile sample
should be the representative of the entire roll width and a length such that the combined total minimum
area must not be less than 100000 mm2. The length of the sample should be at least one tenth the width of
the geotextile. Each test specimen shall be equal in area not less than 10000 mm 2. Since fabric cost and
mechanical properties such as tensile strength, tear strength, puncture strength, etc., are directly related to
mass per unit area, therefore it is an important property. It can be used for the quality control of the
delivered geotextile.

(iii) Thickness
The thickness of a geosynthetic is the distance between its upper and lower surfaces, measured normal to
the surfaces. Since the thickness of the geotextile especially non-woven geotextile varies with pressure
therefore a compressive pressure of 2 kPa is applied at the time of thickness measurement. It is measured
by using a thickness-testing instrument to an accuracy of at least 0.01 mm. The thickness-testing
instrument consists of a base (or anvil) and a free-moving pressure foot-plate with parallel planar faces
having an area of more than 2000 mm 2. Normally the thickness of geotextiles should be determined by
measuring one layer only. In cases where two or more layers are used in contact with each other in an
application, a test may be made with a specific number of layers instead of one. Thickness is not normally
quoted for geotextiles, except for thicker nonwovens, but thickness is invariably quoted for
geomembranes. The typical thickness of the woven geotextiles varies from 0.25 to 1 mm whereas; the
nonwoven geotextiles especially of the needle punch variety are much thicker 1 mm to more than 10 mm.
Some of them are as thick as 30 mm especially when they are used as cushions. The change in thickness
of non-woven geotextile with application of pressure is called its compressibility.
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(iv) Stiffness – The stiffness or flexural rigidity of a geosynthetic is its ability to resist flexure (bending)
under its own weight. It can be measured by its capacity to form a cantilever beam without exceeding a
certain amount of downward bending under its own weight. In the commonly used test, known as the
single cantilever test, the geosynthetic specimen (25 mm wide strip) is placed on a horizontal platform
with a weight placed on it. Holding the weight, the specimen along with the weight is slid slowly and
steadily in a direction parallel to its long dimension until the leading edge projects beyond the edge of the
platform. The length of overhang is measured when the tip of the test specimen is depressed under its own
weight to the point where the line joining the tip to the edge of the platform makes an angle of 41.5° with
the horizontal. One half of this length is the bending length. The cube of this quantity multiplied by the
weight per unit area of the geosynthetic is the flexural rigidity. The value is expressed in gm-cm units.
The stiffness of a geosynthetic indicates the feasibility of providing a suitable working surface for
installation. When placing a geotextile on extremely soft soils, a high stiffness is desirable. The stiffness
of geosynthetics can also have some effects on their performance when they are used in the mitigation of
soil erosion of hill slopes. If the geotextile does not have a low stiffness to conform to the contours of the
ground, then a gap may be left between ground and the geosynthetic through which water can flow and
thereby erode.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Mechanical properties are important in those applications where a geosynthetic is required to perform a
structural role under applied loads or where it is required to survive installation damage and localized
stresses. The mechanical properties which are of prime interest are as follows:
(i) Compressibility (ii) Tensile Strength
(iii) Fatigue Strength (iv) Burst Strength
(v) Tear Strength (vi) Impact Tests
(vii) Puncture Tests (viii) Friction Behaviour
(ix) Pullout (Anchorage) Tests

(i) Compressibility – The compressibility of a geotextile is the rate of decrease of thickness due to
increased stresses. It is determined by observing the change in thickness of geotextile at varying applied
normal stresses. Woven and nonwoven heat bonded geotextiles have very low compressibility and is of
little direct consequence as far as design is concerned. However, compressibility is more important for
nonwoven needle punched geotextile, because they are often used to convey liquid within the plane of
their structure. The more a fabric compresses under load, the lower its transmissivity. The nonwoven
needle-punched geotextiles are the most compressible, and this in turn is directly related to their mass per
unit area.

l 41.5°

Stiffness measuring device

Specimen for wide strip test Compressibility of different types of geotextiles

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(ii) Tensile Strength – The single most property of a geotextile is its tensile strength. Invariably all
geotextile applications rely on this property either as the primary function (as in reinforcement
application) or as secondary function (as in separation, filtration or drainage). It is defined as the
maximum tensile stress that the test specimen can sustain at the point of failure. Due to irregular cross-
sectional area that cannot be easily defined, the tensile strength of geosynthetics cannot be expressed
conveniently in terms of stress. It is, therefore, defined as the maximum load that can be applied per unit
length along the edge of the geosynthetic in its plane. Tensile properties of a geosynthetic are studied
using a tensile strength test in which the geosynthetic specimen is loaded and the corresponding stress-
strain curve is obtained.
Tensile strength is usually determined by the wide-width strip tensile test. A 200-mmwide geosynthetic
strip with a gauge length of 100 mm is used for this purpose. The entire width of a 200-mm wide
geosynthetic specimen is gripped in the jaws of a tensile strength testing machine and it is stretched in
one direction at a prescribed constant rate of extension until the specimen ruptures (breaks). During the
extension process, both load and deformations are measured. Stress is calculated as force divided by
width of specimen and the strain is calculated as deformation divided by original specimen length. The
test provides following four parameters:
1. Maximum tensile stress (referred to as the geotextile’s strength)
2. Strain at failure (generally referred to as maximum elongation or simply elongation
3. Toughness (property of a geosynthetic by virtue of which it can absorb energy i.e. work done per unit
volume before failure, usually taken as the area under the stress-strain curve)
4. Modulus of elasticity (which is the slope of the initial portion of the stress-strain curve)
The measured strength and the rupture strain are a function of many test variables, including sample
geometry, gripping method, strain rate, temperature, initial preload, conditioning and the amount of any
normal confinement applied to the geosynthetic.
There are several features of the tensile test that require further discussion, since they have implications
for subsequent design procedures, the major ones being the modulus and the specimen size. There are
following three methods of calculating modulus:
(i) Initial tangent modulus: This method is generally used for woven geotextiles in their both machine and
cross machine direction and for nonwoven heat-bonded geotextiles. Here a tangent is drawn at the
initial portion of stress-strain curve which is quite linear and the slope of the tangent is determined.
(ii) Offset tangent modulus: This concept is sometimes used when the initial slope is very low as in case
of nonwoven needle punched (E) geotextiles. To obtain the relevant modulus, the initial portion of the
curve is avoided and y-axis is shifted to the right where it meets the downward extension of linear
portion of the stress-strain curve. The slope is then taken from this adjusted axis location.
(iii)Secant modulus: In this method modulus is calculated corresponding to a specified strain. Here, a line
is drawn from the origin of the axes to the designated curve at desired strain and slope of this line is
measured for modulus.
To 60 kN/m at 30% strain C

A Woven monofilament
40B Woven slit-film monofilament Woven multifilament
Initial Nonwoven heat bonded Nonwoven needle punched
ACDE E Tangent Modulus
B D Secant
30 Modulus
Tensile Stress

Stress Strain Curve

Tensile Stress
Tensile Stress

20
Tensile Stress

Stress Strain Curve Stress Strain Curve

Offset
10 Modulus
Desired Strain
0
0 50 100
Strain (%) Strain % Offset Strain % Strain %

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(a) Response of different types of geotextiles under tensile loading (b) Initial tangent modulus
(c) Offset tangent modulus (d) Secant tangent modulus
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As far as the test specimen size [length, width, aspect ratio (length to width ratio)] is concerned, there are
several specimen sizes used for testing purpose. As per the specimen sizes, the tests are known as grab
test, narrow strip test, wide-width test and very wide-with test. The grab tensile test is used to determine
the strength of the geosynthetic in a specific width, together with the additional strength contributed by
adjacent geosynthetic or other material. The geotextile specimen dimensions are 100 mm wide and 200
mm long, but the jaws of the clamps grip only the central 25 mm of the test specimen. A continually
increasing load is applied longitudinally to the specimen and the test is carried to rupture. It is not clear
how the force is distributed across the width of the specimen. It is difficult to relate grab tensile strength
to wide-width strip tensile strength in a simple manner without direct correlation tests. Therefore, the grab
tensile test is useful as a quality control or acceptance test for geotextiles. Almost all geotextile
manufacturers and geotextile specifications use this value.

(a) Grab Test (b) Narrow strip test (c) Wide Width Test (d) Very Wide Strip Test

When geotextiles are under tension, a decrease in the width due to Poisson’s ratio takes place specially in
case of nonwoven geotextiles. The effect of lateral strain can be minimized by taking wide test specimen.
Therefore, wide-width or very wide width tests may be carried out but these tests are not intended to be a
routine test. The grab test also fulfils the requirement and should continue to be used in this regard. Since
there is no universal relationship between the different test specimen sizes or shapes, therefore the choice
of specimen size depends on the intended use of the data. Figure 8 shows the influence of the geotextile
specimen width on the tensile strength. To minimize the effects, the test specimen should have a width-to-
gauge length ratio (aspect ratio) of at least two. The test should be carried out at a standard temperature
specified by the respective country. The tensile strength of geosynthetics is also closely related to mass
per unit area. A heavyweight geotextile, with a higher mass per unit area, will usually be stronger than a
lightweight geotextile. For a given geosynthetic, the tensile strength is also a function of the rate of strain
at which the specimen is tested. At a low strain rate, the measured strength tends to be lower and occurs
at a higher failure strain. Conversely, at a high strain rate, the measured strength tends to be higher and
occurs at a lower failure strain.

Field condition that can be Influence of specimen width Influence of temperature on

simulated by grab tensile test on its tensile strength tensile strength of polymers
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