Geo-textiles

By: Sisay Tagesse.

Contents
• Function and application areas of geo-textiles

• Types and application of geo-textiles

• Fibers, yarns and fabric selection criteria for geo-textiles

• Method of long term prediction of geo-textile life

 Definition
“Permeable textiles used in conjunction with soil, foundation, rock, earth or any
geotechnical engineering-related material”

“Geo-Textile material are used for

• Filtration and Drainage,
• Separation
• Reinforcement
• Stabilization purposes
• Integral part of civil engineering
structures
 Fibers Used
Natural fibers
 Natural fibres offer high strength, high modulus, low breaking extension and low
elasticity.

• Plant fibres used in geo-

textile:-
 Jute, sisal, flax,
 Hemp, abaca,
 Ramie and coir
 Advantages of natural fibers

• Low cost,

• Robustness,

• Strength/durability

• Availability,

• Good drape ability

• Biodegradability/ environment
friendly
 Synthetic Fibers

Polypropylene,
• Main raw materials for the
manufacture of most types  Advantages

of geo-textiles  Low density

• polypropylene,  Good tensile property
• polyester,
 High fatigue resistance
• polyamide and
 Disadvantages
• polyethylene
 Sensitive to UV and temperature

 poor creep and mineral oil resistance

 Synthetic Fibers

Polyester
Polyamides
• Superior resistance
• High strength and creep properties
• High tenacity values
• Fabric structure and finishing
• High stress applications
treatments influence their properties
• Use in elevated temperature
• Cost and overall performance
• Abrasion resistance
render it inferior to polyester
• Resistance to UV

• High modulus
 Limitations of synthetic
• Higher cost than natural ones

• Non-biodegradable and

• May cause soil pollution

The material composition of geo-textiles determines their

longevity in the field: natural products last about two to five
years, whereas synthetic products last >25 years
 Ways to manufacture geo-textiles
Ways to manufacture geo-textiles are:

 Woven,
 Heat-bonded nonwoven,
 Needle punched nonwoven,
 Knitted -restricted to warp-knitted textiles
 Fibre/soil mixing.
 Woven
• Used in lighter weight form as soil separators, filters and erosion control
textiles.

• In heavy weights, they are used for soil reinforcement in steep embankments
and vertical soil walls

• Advantage

• Stress can be absorbed by the warp and weft yarns and hence by fibres,
without much mechanical elongation
 Non woven
• More than 75% of the market utilizes geo-textiles made from various nonwoven
fabrics,

• Chiefly

• Staple-fibre needle punched

• Continuous-filament spun-bonded nonwovens.

• Nonwoven materials are normally 25–30% cheaper than woven materials

 Properties requirements
• Mechanical responses
• Chemical resistance
• Ability to
• Resist
• Work in a stressed environment
• Chemical attack
• Resist damage
• Ultraviolet light
• To resist creep failure
• Depends on:
• Filtration ability • Form of the polymer fibres,
• To hold intact so that water may • Their textile construction
exude from the soil surface without
• Polymer chemical characteristics
breaking down that surface
 Mechanical factors considered
The mechanical factors should be considered are:
• Weight and area density

• Breaking strength

• Temperature

• Creep

 can cause the physical failure of a geo-textile if it is held under too high a
mechanical stress.

• Wing tear, grab tear and puncture resistance

• The strength of joints between sheet edges is an important aspect of geo-

textile performance
 Filtration factors
• Permeability- depends on fabric construction
 Chemical factors

• Should be resistant to:-

• Organic -animals

• Inorganic - pH

• Light exposure - UV

• Time change within the textile

fibres
 Application of geotextiles

• Separation • Reclaimed lands • Soil erosions

• Filtration • Embankment • Anchoring.

• Railway/ roadway
• Drainage • Reinforced earth.
• Sea coastal protection.
• River bank protection • Reflective cracking.
• Reservoirs and lakes.
• Coastal protection • Vertical screens. • Seabed protection.

• Reservoirs and lakes • Geobags.

• Land fills
• Concrete mattresses
Application of Geotextiles as Separator
 Geo-textile as a separator
 Filtration
Defined as “the use of geotextile in a
soil system that allows for adequate
liquid flow with limited soil loss across
the plane of the geotextile”.
The main properties considered in
filtration action:
Porosity
Permeability
It helps water passage while retaining
soil particles.
• Restraining soil particles subject to hydraulic forces
whilst allowing the passage of liquids/gases.

 Clogging is important,
Fine-grained geo-materials promotes clogging.
To enhance the anti-clogging performance, the
hydraulic properties of geotextile should be
satisfactory.
 Hydraulic properties of geotextile:-
 Porosity and Permeability
 Permittivity and Transitivity
 Turbidity/soil retention and filtration
 Drainage (Transmissivity)
 Ability of geotextile to provides an avenue for flow of water through the plane of the
geotextile.

 Properties of drainage geotextile:-

 Thickness,

 Mass/unit area,

 Strength and deformation

 Pore size distribution (permeability).

 The thicker and bulkier the fabric, it performs the better drainage.

 The structure arrangement determines the drainage hydraulic behaviour.

Transmissivity is evaluated by the amounts of water to be passed through the
geotextile specimen flow under the confined normal stress and the specific
hydraulic gradient
• Allowing fluids and gases to flow both
through the plane of the material.

• Used for surface water runoff or for

gas collection under membranes.
 Reinforcement
 Improvement in the total system which create strength by introducing geotextile.

 Geotextile ability to distribute the load put on the soil to avoids cracks or gaps.

 Soil stability improved by the strength and stiffness of the geotextile.

 Properties of reinforcements geotextile:-

 Sufficient strength

 Embedment length at sufficiently small strains (high modulus)

 Woven geotextile recommended because it provides high strength at small

strains
• Providing additional strength to soils to enable steep slopes and soil structures
to be constructed,

• Allow construction over weak and variable soils.

 Sealing

A waterproofing/impermeable geotextile
is used to minimizing vertical flow of water
into the pavement structure.
One of the most important factors affecting
the performance of geo-synthetic interlayer is
the bond established between the old
pavement and the new overlay
• Isolating one material form another.

• The most frequent use of this function is

in landfills where impermeable linings
prevent contamination of surrounding
soils.
Landfill
Land Reclamation
Embankment
Shore Protection
Slope Soil Stabilization
River Bank Protection
 Requirements of geo-textile

 Burst resistance:

 Geotextile has to resist the underneath soil entering because the

stressed soil tries to push the geotextile up due to traffic loads movement.

 Tensile strength:

 Geotextile must resist lateral or in-plane tensile stress.

 Puncture resistance:

 Geotextile must be strong enough to resist puncture during use of

sharp stones, tree stumps, roots.

Impact resistance:
Geotextile must resist many impacts of various objects which
usually come from free falling objects
Water permeability:
Geotextile should drain out water in the base layer through if not
the base may become unstable.
 Tensile strength
testing

Puncture
testing
 Evaluation methods of geo-textiles
 The performance can be assessed based on:
 Filtration and separation efficiency,
 Flow capacity,
 Stress–strain behavior,
 Chemical compatibility,
 Cost,
 Durability and survivability
1. Filtration
 The geo-textile would not get clogged if the majority of the openings in the
geotextile were sufficiently larger than the smaller particles of soil.
 A large number of openings are the pre-requisite to maintain the proper flow

2. Design criteria
 Retention criteria:-
 Effective pore size of the geo-textile and soil particle size.
 Permeability criteria: -
 Geo-textiles need to be more permeable than the soil it is retaining based
on the assumption that the flow should not be hindered at the
soil/geotextile interface
3. Durability of geo-textiles
 Defined as the ability of a material to remain intact and to carry out its
prescribed functions effectively during the entire life of the project.
Resistance exhibited by the constituent fibres to the environmental
conditions
 A geo-textile should have
 Sufficient strength and
 Ability to resist when stretched, ruptured, punctured, as well as
during cutting, compression, abrasion and silting.
4. UV resistance
 The performance of most polymers is degraded, to different extents, by
ultra violet light (UV).
 The polymer bonds breakdown and this can result in a loss in
properties.
 Geo-synthetics should contain a well-dispersed UV inhibitor that
protects the polymer chains.
 Carbon black is the most cost-effective agent for these purposes.
5. Chemical and biological resistance
 The geotextile should proof stability with the specific chemicals present.
 It may be necessary to carry out a specific immersion test at elevated
temperatures using the actual mix of chemicals.

6. Fire resistance
 Can be made of inflammable polymers and others that can by made
inflammable, to varying degrees, by the inclusion of additives.
7. Mechanical damage resistance
 Site damage tests can be specified such as rock drop tests for coastal
applications.
 Laboratory tests have been developed to closely simulate in-service
conditions.

8. Toxicity

 Geotextiles are frequently used where surface or ground water

regulations apply.
 The nature or the levels of any extracts from geo-textiles do no present a
risk to the environment.
 Types of geo-textiles
Geo-membranes,

Geo-nets,

Geo-grids,

Geo-cells,

Geo-composites,

Geo-mats.

Biomet and Bionets