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Engineering Use of Textiles in Geotextile

By: Tripti Basant* & Shahnaz Jahan**
*Research Scholar, **Professor and Head
Department of Clothing & Textiles, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Tethnology,
Pantnagar

Geotextiles used in civil engineering applications are expected to carry out one or more
functions over if given design life. There are five defined functions, these are; drainage,
separation, filtration, protection and reinforcement. Geotextiles are normally manufactured by
either woven or non-woven techniques. The functional requirements of the geotextile in a
given application will determine the performance properties required, and any assessment of
the products durability will be based on the degradation of these properties over a given time.

Geotextiles particularly refers to permeable fabric or synthetic material, woven or non-woven,

which can be used with geotechnical engineering material. They apply to a broad range of civil
engineering construction, paving, drainage and other applications. Geotextiles are extensively
used with soil, rock, earth or any other geotechnical engineering-related material.

HISTORY OF GEOTEXTILES
Prior to 1988, geotextiles were called plastic filler cloth or filter fabric. Because of the increase
in the number of products being manufactured to be used as filter cloth, the specifications
were revised. This material is now identified as Geotextile.

The term geotextile was first proposed by Giroud and Perfetti in 1977. A Geotextile is a semi
permeable rot-proof geosynthetic comprised solely of textiles. The ASAE defines a geotextile as
a fabric or synthetic material placed between the soil and a pipe, gabion, or retaining wall to
enhance water movement and retard soil movement.

GEO-TEXTILE FORMING FIBRES AND POLYMERS

Natural forms of Geotextiles: Jute, Flax, Coconut (Coir), Cotton and Hemp, etc.
Composite/Synthetic materials for geotextiles

Geo fibres are usually polypropylene fibers blended into soils to create an ideal reinforcement
system for the repair of slope failures, reinforcement of pavement and foundation stabilization.

ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILES

1. Mechanical Properties
Mechanical properties include the ability of a textile to perform work in stressed environment
strength and elongations are main mechanical properties of geo textiles.
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2. Filtration ability
The filtration effect is achieved by placing the textile against the soil, in close contact.

3. Chemical resistance
There are mainly four agents of deterioration of geotextile-organic (microorganisms), inorganic
(pH), light exposure and time. But inclusion of additives, in the form of antioxidants and carbon
black powder can considerably reduce this effect.

APPLICATION AREAS OF GEO TEXTILES

Roadways, parking lots, loading areas and construction sites
Prevent drainage systems from clogging with fine particles
Prevention of weed growth (in horticulture applications)
Moisture conservation (in horticulture applications)
Fluid transmission
For waterway erosion control
Filtration, Protection and separation function

Erosion control
Geogrids installed on steep slopes prevent in washing soil particles from surface. Geo-textiles
allow the water to pass through but resist the fine soil migration. After vegetation, which
provides erosion control of slope, becomes grown, the geogrid will decompose after several
years.

Separation
Geo textiles can be used as separator between subsoil and aggregate layer of roads. This
protects the aggregate layer from sinking in the subsoil. At the same time it is permeable to
water.

Filtration
The filtration function of a geotextile serves the same purpose as the separation function, but
under different circumstances. Geo textile has become a solution for draining out the
accumulated water from areas like coal yards. It is filter media to retain soil particles of backfill
material in place, while it allows the release of accumulated hydraulic pressure.

Protection
Soil waste and hazardous landfill structures are designated with impervious geo-membrane
layer along with geo textile thus ensuring that no ground water contamination takes place. It
also acts as drainage gallery. It is used in the thermal power stations for disposing off the fly
ashes in the ash-ponds constructed with impervious geo-membrane layer along with geo textile
that protects the membrane from punching and soil polluting.
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Drainage
Drainage function is defined as The collecting and transporting of ground water and/or other
fluids in the plane of the geotextile. It is the ability of the geotextile to drain fluids on its own,
meaning that it is not part of a drainage system, but is the drainage system itself.

When a geotextile forms part of a drainage system, where the geotextile is used to separate a
soil and a coarse-grained drainage layer, the function is filtration.

Paving
Geotextile provides several benefits to pavements. It acts as a stress relieving interlayer. It
retards the reflection cracks, reduces road maintenance costs, increases the road life and
improves the pavement service ability.

Reinforcement
Soils have relatively low tensile strength so that they are not able to transfer all of forces arising
in a structure when it is loaded. The tensile forces created can be transferred using
geosynthetics products used as a reinforcing element, hence the term reinforced soil.
Geosynthetics materials will form a base composite by grainy material interlocking which is
effective even on the substrates formed by peat or soft silt.

Benefits of use of geosynthetics materials for reinforcement:

Improvement the mechanical properties of soils
Unsuitable types of soils can be used
Expensive structural designs are avoided
Undesirable mixing of soils and demands for earth moving are minimized
Minimum land required
Natural noise reduction barriers/walls are easily constructed
Natural appearance of landscape is maintained

Table 1: Fabric Types of Geo-textiles

Fabric Type Application Area
Woven geo-textiles Coastal works, water ways, embankments
Non woven geo- Filtration, drainage, erosion prevention, separation and soil
textiles reinforcement in roads, railways work
Knitted geo-textiles Knitted bags for protection of dams riverbanks etc.

TYPES OF GEO-TEXTILES MATERIALS

Geo-membranes
Geomembranes are impermeable liquid or vapour barriers made from continuous polymeric
sheets. They act as a liquid or vapour barriers due to extremely low permeability. They are also
used as buffers against pollutants.
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Geomembranes are made from impregnation of geotextiles with asphalt or elastomer sprays.
They are not absolutely impermeable but are relatively impermeable when compared to
geotextiles or soils or even clay soils. Nowadays they are increasingly being used in reservoirs,
ponds, lined canals and other geotechnical projects.

Geogrid
It is a thick plastic mesh, which provides a strong path foundation. It spreads the weight of path
use over the full path length and width. Grid structure prevents path material from moving
along, or across the matting and migrating from the path sides into the peat.

Matting
Mattings of natural materials used to cover the soil surface to reduce erosion from rainfall
impact, hold soil in place, and absorb and hold moisture near the soils until vegetation is
established. Mattings are commonly applied on short, steep slopes where erosion hazard is
high and vegetation will be slow to establish. They are also used on stream banks where moving
water at velocities between 3 ft/s and 6ft/s are likely to wash out new vegetation and in areas
where the soil surface is disturbed and where existing vegetation has been removed.

Geo cell
Geo cell is available in a polymer cellular form including a regular open network of connected
strips, linked by extrusion, adhesion or by other methods.

Geo composite
A geo-composite comprises with a mixture of:
Geotextile and geogrid
Geogrid and geomembrane
Geo-textile and any of these three materials with another material

CONCLUSION
The majority of applications that call for the use geosynthetics require the products to perform
for a minimum expected time, commonly referred to as the design life. The rate degradation of
geosynthetics used must be such that the required properties time to failure exceeds the
required properties for the duration of the design. It is possible to design a geotextile to fulfill
its function for the duration of the design life. However it is imperative that the product
selected uses an appropriate polymer formulation, is manufactured from fibres produced to a
controlled specification and with fabric properties designed for long term use.

When selecting a geotextile a designer must take into account not only the mechanical and
hydraulic properties of the geotextile at the point of manufacture, but the proven longevity of
the properties in the site environment, both prior to installation and for the duration of the
design. The use of geotextiles manufactured from the bi-products of other manufacturing
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processes must be undertaken with extreme caution as the long term performance can never
be fully known.

This article was originally published in the Textile Review magazine, November,
2012, published by Saket Projects Limited, Ahmedabad.