Professional Documents
Culture Documents
571401
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
GEOSYNTHETICS-GEOTEXTILES
BY;
Prof. Santhosh Kumar C V[CVS]
B.E, M.Tech[Geo-Technical Engineering]
Assistant Professor
PESCE, Mandya
Email:santhoshcv@pesce.ac.in
Geosynthetics are man-made materials used to improve soil conditions. The word is
derived from: Geo = earth or soil + Synthetics = man-made
Geosynthetics are typically made from petrochemical-based polymers (“plastics”)
that are biologically inert and will not decompose from bacterial or fungal action.
While most are essentially chemical inert, some may be damaged by petrochemicals
and most have some degree of susceptibility to ultraviolet light (sunlight).
A geosynthetic product comes with several functions, namely reinforcement,
separation, drainage, containment, barrier, the management of surface erosion,
including any other function a geosynthetic material is supposed to have. (some may
perform more than one of these functions simultaneously)
The use of this material can mostly be observed in the
Civil Engineering profession, transportation, geological
environment, marine, hydraulics, roads, railways, retaining
walls, canals, and other structures that require the need of
this material for certain engineering purposes.
GEOTEXTILE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
The usage of geotextiles dates back to thousands of years ago,
which controlled soil erosion at the time of ancient Romans and was used when the desired soil
was unstable to build the road
The first recorded usage of geotextile was on the road which was undertaken by the
Department of South Carolina Highways in1926.
In this project, a heavy cotton geotextile was loaded onto the soil. And then the hot asphalt was
applied to the fabric then a thin layer of sand was poured on the asphalt.
Research has shown that this fabric has reduced cracking and has prevented the road from
breaking down
The usage of geotextile has been successful for the past two decades and it has grown rapidly,
due to its excellent performance in structural applications, especially on the roads.
Today, the world is witnessing thousands of projects where geotextile are used and thousands
of companies and factories are active in the production and installation of geotextiles
throughout Europe, America, Africa and Asia, especially East Asia.
In figure 2 a geotextiles is used to separate the two layers.
The separation property is a feature that, along with properties such as flexibility
and porosity, refers to the ability to locate geosynthetics products between two
unmatched materials
For example, the main cause of road rupture is the injection of adjacent layers into
the pebble and the consequently the decline in the strength of the pebble layer
(Figure 2a).
When the pebble is placed on the subgrade layer, the underlying layer is mixed by
soil and, over time, the traffic and vibration load, injects the Aggregate layer into
the soil, causing the layer to move upwards.
Also, in wet places, the traffic causes the weak subgrade soil to pump into the
pebbles and all of these conditions reduce the effective thickness of the pebble layer;
As a result, the protective layer of the road is damaged and the useful life of the
road decreases, which can be protected by placing a geotextile on a pebble layer
under the subgrade layer.
GEOSYNTHETICS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Recent developments in geosynthetics: systematic applications of geotextile did not immediately follow
the initial developments that looks play that took place from 1930s to 1960; only when parallel
developments took place in materials technology increasing its availability, capabilities and cost
effectiveness did it's use become popular.
The polyethylene nets manufactured by Netlon limited UK, were used in Japan for reducing the damage
to embankment caused by seismic activity and rainfall.
They were used as basal layers to improve embankment stability.
Further uses of geosynthetics as filter beneath the riprap, separator between the underlying soil, and
subsequently for basic functions such as separation, filter, training and reinforcement were identified to
enable better understanding of the process of its application.
Use of membranes as impermeable barriers as become the standards for minimizing the effect of
migrating contaminates in contaminated sites, liquid impoundments, water reservoirs com etc.
The range of Geo synthetic materials available today is very wide.
Giroud(1986) bakes out several reasons as to why these materials have become successful and
acceptable in professional practices.
These groups of people contractors, designers and owners are behind the spectacular growth.
Contractors are interested in quicker, less weather dependent construction materials; reduce volume of
earthworks and capability of handling poor quality soil as well.
Designers want better reliability, flexibility and control over their design, which are possible with the use
of appropriate choice of geotextile materials.
Giroud suggest the following reasons for the wide acceptability of Geosynthetics
1. The membrane like behavior of these materials complements the properties of granular soil. Hence the
soils that are prone to erosion or settlement can be stabilized. The tensile properties of geosynthetics
material become useful in increasing the tensile strength of soil. In addition these materials are
effective as a separator between dissimilar layers of soil.
2. Geotechnical structures such as pavements, foundations and retaining walls use layered construction.
Geosynthetics materials are used as interfaces between layers. This improves the overall performances
3. Geotechnical structures need to be flexible when subjected to differential settlement. Geosynthetic
materials owing to their inherent flexibility or compatible with the behavior of geotechnical structures.
CLASSIFICATIONS BASED ON MATERIAL TYPES:
GEO
Soil, Rock or other Geotechnical material
SYNTHETIC
Man made
Polymeric material
These textiles are usually used to control soil erosion, mainly due to the above mentioned properties, as the
most appropriate temporary solution.
Some types of famous geotextiles are Coirmat (woven from coconut fiber), Jutmesh (woven from china fibers),
Green furee (a combination of biodegradable and non-biodegradable fibers), RECP (rolled erison control
product), Coirlog (coconut fiber bag tissue), Environmat (spruce wood fiber)
The properties of natural fibers such as ability to mature fibres to absorb water and
their biodegradability with time give them an edge over synthetic geotextiles for
erosion control purposes.
The drapability factor due to the flexibility allows them to conform closely to the
terrain.
Bamboo dowels, due to their high tensile stress can be efficiently to prevent landslides
or slope failure.
The main challenge while using natural fibers is to prevent them from biodegradation and
attack from micro-organism. This can be done to some extent by coating with polymers,
bitumen etc.
SYNTHETIC FIBERS /ARTIFICAL FIBRES: These were produced, instead of textiles and natural
fibers mentioned in recent decades which has properties like granular materials and in terms of
mechanical and chemical resistance are at a higher level.
These fibers are made from crude oil derivatives and its main property is the incorruptibility in contrast
of soil degradation factors. Geotextile materials are placed on or in soil to do one of four things:
• Separation/confinement/distribute loads
- Improve level-grade soil situations such as roads, alleys, lane ways
-Improve sloped-grade situations such as banks, hillsides, stream access points
• Reinforce soil
- Soil walls, bridge abutments, box culverts/bridges, and soil arches
• Prevent soil movement while letting water move through the material
- Such as in drainage systems and back fill around water intakes
• Controlling water pressure allowing flow in the plane of the material
- Such as on foundation walls to allow water to move down to perimeter drains
Metallic reinforcement materials in the form of steel sheets, grids meshes, strips bars,
rods that are capable of sustaining tensile loads and restraining deformations have
been used for many years.
Steel has been used successfully for a long time in soil for piling and pile lines.
For using these material as soil reinforcement, information with regard to the tensile
strength behaviour, soil reinforcement friction and durability behaviour is necessary.
Property such as tensile strength Youngs modulus and stress-strain behaviour can we
obtain by conducting tension tests on reinforcing materials.
The type of fibres used in the manufacture of geotextile includes monofilament, staple
APPLICATIONS AND POTENTIAL OF GEOSYNTHETICS:
Geosynthetics is useful to separate dissimilar soils. A separator helps prevent intermixing of poor in situ
soil with good quality granular materials when the structure is subjected to surface loading.
The separator needs to have sufficient strength to survive ripping, puncturing on impact and must be
durable against chemical attacks
Filtration function:
Geosynthetics such as geotextiles allow the moment of liquid across the plane of geotextile while retaining the soil on the
upstream side.
To achieve this, the material should meet condition of both adequate permeability, requiring an open fabric structure,
and soil retention requiring a small opening size.
A long term soil to geotextile flow compatibility is also important in that the filter must not clog excessively during its
lifetime.
The filtration function of geotextile is a major area of importance in many applications such as retaining wall, pavement
and in erosion control measures and landfills
Drainage function:
Apart from geo textiles that transmit fluids, nowadays there are specific products such as geonets and drainage
composites to meet drainage requirements.
Other than the ability to direct the flow, geotextile should be able to retain soil.
Geo synthetic drains have been successful in many cases since they reduce the consolidation time in soft soil.
Nowadays drainage composites are available which serve dual functions of filtration and drainage which are used in
Barrier function:
The barrier function using geomembranes and geotextiles coated with bitumen, rubber bitumen or
other polymer mixes is useful in many applications for minimizing fluid and vapour flow.
The fluid permeability of materials is very low and is therefore useful in many applications such as
canal lining, liquid impoundments, dams, municipal waste landfills and among others.
The materials to some extent also prevent the flow of gases and odours that are likely to emanate from
solid waste landfills.
RAW MATERIALS USED FOR MANUFACTURING
GEOSYNTHETIC MATERIALS
Almost exclusively, the raw materials from which geosynthetics are produced are polymeric.
Polymers are materials of very high molecular weight and are found to have multifarious applications
in the present society.
The polymers used to manufacture geosynthetics are generally thermoplastics, which may be
amorphous or semi-crystalline.
Such materials melt on heating and solidify on cooling. The heating and cooling cycles can be applied
several times without affecting the properties.
Molecular weight can affect physical and mechanical properties, heat resistance and durability
(resistance to chemical and biological attack) properties of geosynthetics.
The physical and mechanical properties of the polymers are also influenced by the bonds within and
between chains, the chain branching and the degree of crystallinity.
Polymer fibers have different types such as propylene, polyester, polyethylene, polyamid and other items.
Polyethylene is the first and oldest polymer used in the production of geotextiles, which was discovered in
1931 in the ICI laboratory.
Polyamide has the highest record. It has been used since 1935.
Gradually, polypropylene was also recognized as the primary ingredient in this industry.
But polyester was in competition with polypropylene and since 1954 it plays a major role in making
geotextiles
Geotextile fiber groups are divided into different polymers as the following:
Polypropylene (PP):
Polypropylene (PP) is a crystalline thermoplastic produced by polymerizing propylene monomers in the
presence of a stereo-specific catalyst system.
The primary reason for PP usage in geotextile manufacturing is its low cost.
For non-critical structures, PP provides an excellent, cost-effective raw material.
It has excellent chemical and pH range resistance because of its semi crystalline structure.
Additives and stabilizers (such as carbon black) must be added to give PP ultraviolet (UV) light
resistance during processing.
Polyester: Polyester (PETP) is made by polymerizing ethylene glycol with dimethyl terephthalate or with
terephthalic acid.
All these three materials are derivatives of petroleum. Polyster is produced discontinuously in two reactors, in
series or in a continuous process using more reactors in series.
Polyester is increasingly being used to manufacture reinforcing geosynthetics such as geogrids because of high
strength and resistance to creep.
Chemical resistance of polyester is generally excellent, with the exception of very high pH environments. It is
inherently stable to UV light.
The first one is an aliphatic polyamide obtained by polymerisation of the petroleum derivatives-caprolactam.
Aliphatic polyamides are composed of chains which do not contain ring-shaped rigid structures.
The other type is also an aliphatic polyamide. It is obtained by the polymerisation of a salt of adipic acid and
hexamethylenediamine and both of them are petroleum products.
They are manufactured in the form of thread or tape which are cut into granules.
Polyvinylchloride, Ethylenecopolymer Bitumen: , Chlorinated Polyethylene are some
of other raw materials, apart from the raw materials explained above there are other
polymers also available with less market value.
MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF
GEOSYNTHETIC MATERIALS
If fibres are twisted or spun together they are known as Yarn
Monofilament fibers are created by extruding Molten polymers
through an apparatus known as spinnaret, containing several
small diameter holes
The excluded polymer strings are then cooled and stretched to
align the polymer and give the fiber increased strength
The staple fibres are then spun into longer fibers known as staple
yarn
Slitfilm fibers are manufactured by extruding a continuous sheet
of polymers and cutting them into fibers by knives or air jets
THE EXTRUSION PROCESS
Nonwoven binding methods can be mechanical, chemical or thermal. bond The method and degree of bonding is the
principal factor in the determination of the fabrics mechanical properties and filtration properties.
In a mechanical binding process a fibrous web is manipulated mechanically so that entanglement (a complicated or
compromising ) of the constituent fibres occurs and is carried out to such an extent that fabric integrity results from the
interlocking.
The major bonding in systems of these types is friction.
There are a number of specific processes involved in providing sufficient mechanical interlocking of fibres to adequately
bond a nonwoven structure including the following:
- Fibre entanglement via water jets
- Needle punching
- Stitch-Bonding
The vast majority of mechanically bonded geotextiles that are commercially produced are manufactured using a needle
punching process.
The needle punching process involves the use of barbed needles which penetrated the fibrous web driving and facilitate the
entanglement process. As this process continues, generally from both sides, the web consolidates and becomes highly
densified.
Geotextiles that are bonded using this process alone are usually characterised by their high strength and high elongation at
break.
It should be noted that additional finishing treatments that follow this process can significantly alter the properties of the
fabric.
THERMALLY BONDED
Thermal bonding requires the presence of a thermoplastic component whereby heat is applied
until the component becomes viscous or melts.
The component may be present in the form of a homofill fibre, powder, film, hot-melt or as a
sheath part of a bi-component fibre.
The polymer will flow by surface tension and capillary action to the fibre to fibre crossover
point where the bonding regions are formed and then fixed by subsequent cooling.
CALENDARING
Thermal calendaring is a process whereby the nonwoven web is passed continuously between
two heated cylinders, often under pressure.
Both cylinders are usually heated to a point that exceeds that of the melting point of the
material.
Calendars are extensively used for finishing of nonwovens as well as thermal boning.
Normally, after calendaring the fabric is passed over cooling rollers.
GEOTEXTILES (GT):
Geotextiles are defined as “any permeable textile used with foundation soil, rock, earth, or any other
geotechnical engineering-related material as an integral part of a human-made project, structure, or
system”.
They are typically the most used geosynthetic material for agriculture purposes.
These are fabric or cloth-like materials that are classified based on the method used to place the threads
or yarns in the fabric: either woven or non-woven.
Geotextiles typically come in rolls up to approximately 5.6m (18 ft) wide and 50 to 150m (160 to 500 ft)
long.
Flexible, textile-like fabrics
Majority are made from polypropylene fibers
Woven (slit film, monofilament or multifilament)
Nonwoven (needle punched or heat/chemical bonded)
Characterized by an open and porous structure (with controlled permeability)
Mechanical and Hydraulic properties vary widely
Very versatile in their primary function (except as liquid barrier)
GEOGRIDS (GG):
These are open grid-like materials of integrally connected polymers, as shown in Figure below.
They are used primarily for soil reinforcement.
Their strength can be greater than the more common geotextiles.
Geogrids have a low strain and stretch only about 2 to 5% under load.
Where practicable they would likely be used in heavy load or high demand agricultural
situations.
stiff or flexible polymer grid-like sheets
structure allows for soil “strike-through”
bidirectional – equal strength in both directions
unidirectional – main strength in machine direction
focuses entirely on reinforcement applications,
e.g.,walls, steep slopes, base and foundation reinforcement
GEOCELLS (GC):
Whereas geotextiles and geogrids are ‘flat’ materials, geocells or geowebs
have ‘depth’, as shown in Figure 5, below.
They are typically formed from polyethylene sheets and expand out like an
accordion when opened up to use.
They are meant to contain soil, gravel or other fill material within their
maze of cells or pockets and may be porous to allow water movement.
They are used on slopes with soft subgrades and in erosion control in
channels.
They may be used over top of a geotextile or geogrid.
While they come in compact bundles when collapsed, they typically cover an
area 2.5m (8 ft) wide by 6 to 12m (20 to 40 ft) long when expanded
GEONETS (GN):
This includes LDPE and HDPE nets and has
functions similar to geogrids.
all are made from high density polyethylene
results in parallel sets of ribs as a integral unit
biplanar – flow is equal in all directions
triplanar – flow much greater in machine direction
function is always in-plane drainage
surfaces must be covered; usually with GTs
GEOMEMBRANES (GM):
Whereas geotextiles, geogrids and geocells are usually porous to allow water to filter through
them, geomembranes are polymer sheets used to control fluid movement. T
These materials have very low permeability and would be used for lining ponds, pits etc to
control leachate.
They may be used over top of a geotextile.
impermeable sheets (10-11 to 10-13 cm/s)
function is always containment
represents a barrier to liquids and gases
Many types: HDPE, LLDPE, FPP, PVC, EPDM, etc.
manufactured rolls are field seamed
new applications in hydraulics and private development
GEOSYNTHETIC CLAY LINERS(GCL):
function is always containment
common product is bentonite between 2-GTs
internally reinforced by needle punched or
stitching
bentoniteproduct bonded to GM is also
available many other variations exist
competitive with compacted clay liners (CCLs)
beneath a GM; one has a composite liner
GEOPIPE (GP):
Its really buried plastic pipe!
function is always drainage
HDPE and PVC most common
can be smooth walled or corrugated
corrugated HDPE growth is enormous
Geofoam (GF):
lightweight fill on soft or sensitive soils
relieves lateral pressure on walls
Also used for insulation of frost-sensitive soils
woven geotextile are formed using traditional weaving methods
and view types
GEOCOMPOSITES (GCM):
hybrid systems of any or all
array of available products
GT/GM; GT/GG; GT/GN; etc.
considerable ongoing innovation
primary function depends on final product
PROPERTIES OF GEOSYNTHETICS:
PARAMETERS THAT INDICATE THE PROPERTIES OF GEOSYNTHETICS
PHYSICAL Thickness, specific gravity, mass per unit area, porosity, apparent
opening size.
CHEMICAL Polymer type, filler material, carbon black percentage, plasticizer and
additive details, manufacturing process for fiber and geosynthetics.
MECHANICAL Tensile strength, compressibility, elongation, tear/impact/ puncture
resistance, burst strength, seam strength, fatigue resistance, interface
friction with soil, anchorage in soil.
HYDRAULIC Permittivity (cross-plane permeability), transmissivity (in-plane
permeability), clogging potential.
ENDURANCE Installation damage potential - tear/impact/puncture resistance,
abrasion resistance, creep
DEGRADATION Resistance to ultra-violet radiation, temperature, oxidation, aging,
chemical and biological reactions.
PROPERTIES OF GEOSYNTHETICS:
The various properties of geosynthetic have been classified as physical properties,
mechanical properties, hydraulic properties, endurance (durability) properties and
degradation properties.
Physical properties are the fundamental properties, which describe the material
itself.
Mechanical properties define the strength of the product and then its interaction
with some other materials like soil or stones and so on.
Hydraulic properties describe the pattern of flow of water through geosynthetic.
The endurance properties reflect the how the geosynthetics will last when used in
soil.
Degradation properties indicate that how the geosynthetics will degrade with time
when subjected to ultraviolet rays or some absurd environment.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES :
The physical properties which are of prime interest are as follows:
(i) Specific gravity
(ii) Mass per unit area (weight)
(iii) Thickness
(iv) Stiffness
Some more physical properties which are important for geogrids and geonets
Type of structure
Junction type
Aperture size and shape
Rib dimensions
Planar angles made by intersecting ribs and vertical angles made at the junction point.
1 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. T
Typical values of specific gravity of commonly used polymeric materials are given as follows.
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.
2 MASS PER UNIT AREA ( UNIT WEIGHT)
The mass per unit area is determined by cutting a minimum of 10 specimens, each at least 100
mm square, and then weighing them on an accurate scale. Usually given in units of gram per
square metre (g/m2).
It is determined by weighing square or circular test specimens of known dimensions
(generally area not less than 100 cm2).
Linear dimensions should be measured without any tension in the specimen.
For commonly used geo-synthetics, it varies in order of 100 to 1000 g/m2.
Unit weight of geo-textiles< Unit weight of geomembranes may have substantially larger
values of mass per unit area, even up to several thousands of grams per square metre.
It should be measured to the accuracy nearest to 0.01 % of total specimen weight.
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
3 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.
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.
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.
4 STIFFNESS
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.
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.
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.
(i) Compressibility
Thus, the ability of a geotextile to withstand the stresses causing propagation of tear in it
is called its tearing strength.
An initial small cut of 15 mm is given on 25 mm side along the width of the specimen.
The non-parallel sides of the trapezoid marked on the specimen are clamped in parallel
jaws of a tensile testing machine.
The separation of the jaws is continuously increased at a rate of 300 mm per minute.
The initial tear goes one widening and at some point, the entire width of specimen is cut.
The load actually stresses the individual yarns gripped in the clamps rather than stressing the entire
fabric.
The tearing strength, which is the maximum value of the tearing force, is obtained from the force-
extension curve (Fig. 13b).
The failure pattern in tear is different in nonwoven geotextiles from that in woven geotextiles.
5 PUNCTURE TEST
There is a need for an assessment of geotextiles resistance to objects such as stones,
ballast, stumps etc. under static condition.
Thus, the puncture strength is the ability of geotextile to withstand the localized
stresses generated by penetrating or puncturing objects e.g. aggregate etc.