Geosynthetic Material Geotextile
Geosynthetic material geotextile are planar fabrics that perform a variety of functions in combination with soil and other geotechnical materials. They are woven or non-woven textiles, and they can separate, filter, reinforce, protect or drain.
They provide tensile strength to weak or soft soil masses which need to support heavy surface loads. They also help stabilize earth walls, retaining walls and steep slopes.
Reinforcement
Geosynthetic materials are permeable fabrics used to separate, filter, reinforce or protect soils when placed in association with them. They are often woven or knitted from synthetic fibres like polyester or polypropylene and have been manufactured to withstand a variety of conditions, including weathering, UV degradation, and biological degradation. They are available in a variety of thicknesses and have been designed to perform several different functions, such as reinforcement, separation, drainage, and protection.
They are a crucial component of many civil engineering projects and provide an affordable, efficient alternative to traditional earth construction methods. Their high quality, quick installation, and versatility make them an ideal choice for a variety of applications in civil, transportation, geotechnical, environmental, hydraulics, marine, and private development engineering.
The most common uses for these materials are in paving and railroad base, embankment, canals, waste landfill, and erosion control. They are also frequently used to stabilize slopes and river banks. A good example is the Green Lane Rail project in South Wales, which utilised Tensar’s high-strength Basetex(r) geotextile to stabilise the embankment at a 70 slope for its 120-year design life.
In addition to geotextiles, geogrids are a rapidly growing segment of the geosynthetic industry. These are polymers formed into a gridlike configuration rather than being woven, knitted or welded on standard textile machinery. They have large apertures between individual ribs in both the transverse and longitudinal directions, so they have a significant reinforcement function.
Separation
A geotextile can be placed between dissimilar soil materials to separate them. This allows the in situ soil and imported materials to retain their respective functions and characteristics. For example, placing a geotextile between two different soils will prevent fine particles from migrating through the soil.
These fabrics can be woven or nonwoven and they are typically made from polymers such as high-density or low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, Geosynthetic material geotextile polyester and others. They may contain other additives or modifiers that allow for additional functionality.
Drainage is one of the most common functions that these geotextiles perform. They are able to pass water (and other liquids or gases) through their structure and into a collector or open space. This can help to reduce pore water pressure under roads that could otherwise lead to softening of the subgrade soils under the road surface, which can cause localized failures in the roadway.
These geosynthetic products are commonly used in paved and unpaved roadways, railways, retaining walls and some of the foundations of road and rail projects. They can also be used to reinforce soils for stabilization purposes, in landfills and in dike construction. They can also be used to control evaporation and erosion of soils. Geotextiles can be combined with other geosynthetics such as geogrids to provide a system that is designed for multiple functions.
Filtration
Filtration is one of the most established geosynthetic functions with standardised design approaches and many successful applications. This function can be fulfilled by woven and non-woven geotextiles as well as by a range of composite geosynthetic products like geofoam or geocells.
While geotextiles used for filtration have been around for a while, more recently the use of smart geosynthetic materials that can monitor soil movement has emerged. These can be used to identify changes in ground conditions that could impact on the performance of civil engineering structures such as roads and railway embankments.
As a general rule, geosynthetic materials have good resistance to degradation from above-ground and underground factors such as oxygen, UV radiation, temperature, moisture, heavy metals Geosynthetic clay liner and acidity. They are also highly flexible, durable and have a long life-cycle.
As a result, the global geosynthetics market continues to grow rapidly. The growth is driven by the increased use of geosynthetics as a way to reduce costs and improve the quality of civil engineering infrastructure works. Geosynthetics are increasingly used alongside other materials such as rock, soil, cement, bitumen and steel to solve complex construction problems that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to solve using traditional construction methods. They are revolutionising the civil engineering industry, allowing infrastructure works to be constructed more economically, sustainably and with greater resilience than has been possible in the past.
Protection
The protection function of geosynthetic materials enables engineers to build embankments and earth slopes on soft soils or to use lower foundation loads and steeper slope angles than would be possible without using the material. They also prevent the movement of soils or rock from the area being protected and provide barriers for piping or cables that pass through or under the geosynthetic.
Woven geotextiles are manufactured with perpendicular fibers woven to create cloth-like materials. Non-woven geotextiles are fabricated with random fibers and resemble felt. Both types of geotextiles are used to protect or separate underlying materials.
In road construction, protection geosynthetics prevent moisture intrusion into HMA overlays to avoid reflective cracking and extend the life of the surface course. In addition, they help maintain design thickness and roadway integrity during rehabilitation by preventing the infiltration of coarse aggregates into the soft subgrade soil layer.
Drainage geosynthetics allow water, groundwater or other fluids to move through more permeable soil masses without causing loss of material. They can be used to dissipate pore pressure below embankments, intercept groundwater in slopes or behind structures and to provide drainage for foundation walls and road pavement overlays.
Some geosynthetics combine multiple functions, for example, stabilisation and drainage geogrids or separation and filtration geotextiles. This makes them particularly useful in some road foundation applications and some drainage and containment projects. They can also be used to separate and protect aquatic ecosystems by providing physical barriers between different materials, species or groups of fish. This helps to prevent disease and parasite transmission between the fish.
