FEDERATION OF INDIAN CHAMBERS OF

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

A Presentation
On

Geo Textiles : Perspective

from the Construction Sector
By
D C DE
CONSULTING ENGINEERING SERVICES (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED
19 November 2010

Reinforcement
Reinforcement

Geo
Geo Drains
Drains

Geo
Geo Separations
Separations

Geotextile Applications in Roads

MSE
MSE

ASTM D4439 defined a geotextile as follows

Geotextile : A permeable geosynthetic comprised
solely of textiles. Geotextiles are used with
foundation, soil, rock, earth, or any other
geotechnical engineering-related material as an
integral part of a human-made product structure,
or system.
Due to the very wide range of applications and the
tremendous variety of available textiles having
widely different properties, the selection of a
particular design method or design philosophy is
a critical decision that must be made before the
actual mechanics of the design process are
initiated.

Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

An overview of geotextiles, alluded to many
applications falling into categories:
Separation
Reinforcement
Filtration
Drainage
Containment
When properly identified, lead to the design-byfunction method.

Geotextile choices as available

1. Lightweight Wovens
2. Heavyweight

Wovens
3. High Flow Wovens
4. High Strength

Wovens
5. Thermally Bonded

Non-wovens
6. Needle punched Nonwovens

Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

Separation
Bituminious
Courses
Aggregate
Bases
Geotextile
Layer
Subgrade

Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

Filtration and Drainage
Bituminious Courses
Aggregate Bases
Geotextile Layer
Aggregate Drainage
Layer
Subgrade

Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

Reinforcement
This is the synergistic improvement in the total
system strength created by the introduction of a
geotextile into a soil and developed primarily
through the following three mechanisms:
One, lateral restraint through interfacial friction
between geotextile and soil/aggregate.
Two, forcing the potential bearing surface failure
plane to develop at alternate higher shear strength
surface.
And three, membrane type of support of the wheel
loads.

Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

Sealing Function
New Overlay
Reflective Crack
without Paving Fabric
Old Pavement
Base Course

Major Applications of Geotextiles

Separation of Dissimilar Materials
Between subgrade and stone base in paved roads
and airfields
Between landfills and stone base courses
Between geomembranes and soil drainage layers
Between foundation and embankment soils for
surcharge loads
Between foundation and embankment soils for
roadway fills
Between foundation and encapsulated soil layers
Between foundation soils and rigid retaining walls
Between slopes and downstream stability berms
Beneath precast blocks and panels for aesthetic
paving e.g. hardscaping

Major Applications of Geotextiles

Separation of Dissimilar materials
Between drainage layers in poorly graded filter
blankets
Between old and new asphalt layers
Reinforcement of Weak Soils and Other Materials
To reinforce embankments
To aid in construction of steep slopes
As basal reinforcement over soft soils
To bridge over cracked or jointed rock
To create more stable side slopes due to high
frictional resistance

Major Applications of Geotextiles

Filtration (Cross-Plane Flow)
Beneath stone base for paved roads and airfields
Around crushed stone surrounding under drains
Around perforated under drain pipe
As a flexible form for restoring scoured bridge pier
bearing capacity
Between backfill soil and weep holes in retaining
walls
Between backfill soil and gabions
As a filter beneath precast blocks

Major Applications of Geotextiles

Drainage (In-Plane Flow)
As a drain behind a retaining wall
As a drain at the base of retaining wall
As a replacement for sand or wick drains

Band Drains / Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD)

These are geocomposites formed of a hollow cored,
geotextile wrapped drainage element (geonet) inserted
vertically into soft ground to speed up the
consolidation process.

Prefabricated Vertical Drain

Installation of PVD

Band Drains / Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD)

Kandla Port Ground improvement
Band drains has been adopted to increase the bearing
capacity of the site. The following parameters have
been adopted:
Scheme

SBC
Spacing of
Preload Duration
before
Band Drain
Height
(Days)
treatment with Triangular
(m)
(T/m2)
Grid
(m)

SBC after
treatment
(T/m2)

Scheme-1

2.00

1.25

4.00

80

10.21

Scheme-2

2.00

1.50

4.00

120

10.11

Band Drains / Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD)

at Kolkata

Emerging Issues
R&D Needs of the Indian Geotechnical Industry
The Need to Encourage the Domestic Synthetic
Manufacturing Industry
Need for Establishing a Geosynthetic Institute in
India
Standardization in the Field of Geosynthetics
Geosynthetics Test Standards and Specifications