GEOTEXTILES

Md. Milon Hossain

Assistant Professor, Dept of Textile
Engineering, KUET.
www.kuet.ac.bd/te/milon 1
 INTRODUCTION
Geotextile, composed of two words geo, means
earth and the ‘textile’ means fabric. In 1977, J. P.
Giroud coined the words “geotextile” and
“geomembrane”.
“Geotextiles are permeable textiles used in
conjunction with soils or rock as an integral part of
a manmade project”.
Geosynthetics: Natural (Jute/coir) or artificial
(polymer/metal) product that is used along with
soil in geotechnical constructions to enhance,
improve or modify the behaviour of various civil
engineering works. 2
 TYPES OF GEOSYNTHETICS

1 Geotextiles 5 Geosynthetic clay liner

2 Geogrids 6 Geocells
3 Geonets 7 Geofoam
4 Geomembranes 8 Geocomposites

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Why would use?

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When should Use?

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Where?

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Use of Geosynthetics in Earth Retention
Techniques - Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to
unnatural slopes.

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 1. GEO-TEXTILE

Geotextiles are permeable fabrics

which when used in association
with soil, have the ability to separate,
filter, reinforce, protect, or drain.

Characteristics-

Porous and allow flow of water through it.

Most used Geosynthetics.
Available in rolls of 5.6m wide and 50-150m
long.

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 Geotextile fabrics come in two basic forms :

1. Woven

Microscopic View
 Uniform and regular interweaving of
threads or yarns in two directions.
 Regular Visible Construction Pattern.
 Function: Soil Separation,
Reinforcement, Load distribution,
Filtration, Drainage
 Have high tensile strength and
relatively low strain.
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 2. Non Woven

Microscopic View Formed by heat bonding, resin

bonding or needle punching.
No visible thread pattern.
Function: Soil separation,
stabilization, load distribution, but not
used for reinforcement.
They have high strain and stretch
considerably under load.

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 2. GEO-GRIDS
A Geogrid is geosynthetic material used to reinforce soils and
similar materials. Geogrids are commonly used to
reinforce retaining walls, as well as sub bases or subsoil's
below roads or structures.

They have open grid like

configuration i.e. they have large
aperture between individual ribs.
They have Low strain and stretch
about 2% under load.
Strength is more that other
common geotextiles.
Function: Used exclusively for
reinforcement

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 How Geogrid Improves the durability of Roads:

Uneven distribution
Of load causes
wear & tear
of Roads
Load is distributed
Evenly After the
use of Geogrid

Geogrid used beneath the Road surface

The Pathway deforms
after a certain
period of time

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Use of Geogrid for
Soil Reinforcement 

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Use of Geogrid in Grass Lanes
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 3. GEO-NETS
A geonet is a geosynthetic material consisting of
integrally connected parallel sets of ribs overlying similar
sets at various angles for in-plane drainage of liquids or
gases.

 Geonets are made of stacked, criss-

crossing polymer strands that
provide in-plane drainage.
 Two layers of strands are called “bi-
planar”.
 Three layers are called “tri-planar”.

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 Bi-Planar

Two layers of strands

Three layers of strands

Tri-Planar

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 4. GEOMEMBRANES
A Geomembrane is very low permeability synthetic
membrane barrier used to control fluid or gas migration in a
structure, or system.

Characteristics-

Impermeable and usually

non-woven,
Used as a fluid barrier in
designing drainage systems,
etc.
Used as damp proof
course in floors, roofs etc.

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Geomembranes used in
Agricultural Ponds
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 5. Geosynthetic clay liner
It is a woven fabric-like material, combination of geotextiles
and geomembranes used as a barrier for liquid or solid waste
containment. primarily used for the lining of landfills.

GCLs are manufactured by

sandwiching the bentonite
within or layering it on
geotextiles and
geomembranes , bonding
the layers with needling,
stitching or chemical
adhesives. Primarily used
for the lining of landfills.

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 6. Geocells
Geocells are 3-dimensional honeycomb-like structures, made
of strips of polymer sheet.

Characteristics-
Similar to geotextiles or
geogrids but have depth.
provides both a physical
containment of a depth of soil and a
transfer of load through
Allow water through it.
Used in slopes with soft sub-grade
Used in erosion control in channels

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Use of Geocell in
Erosion Control

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 7. Geofoams
Geofoam is manufactured into large lightweight blocks by
polymeric expansion process. They are large but extremely
light materials with gas filled cells.

Low density/ high strength: Geofoam is

1% to 2% the density of soil with equal
strength.
Quick to install and can be installed
during any type of weather.
 If geofoam comes in contact with
a petroleum solvent, it will immediately
turn into a glue-type substance, making it
unable to support any load.
Untreated geofoam is a Fire hazard

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Uses-
within soil embankments built over soft, weak soils;
under roads, airfield pavements and railway track systems subject to
excessive freeze-thaw conditions.
thermal insulation in storage tanks containing cold liquids.
separation, lightweight fill, compressible inclusions,
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 8. Geocomposites
These are products manufactured by combining the superior
features of various types of geosynthetics.
This is prepared to extract all the major
properties of the geosynthetics into a single unit with
minimum cost.
The various types of Geocomposites
are :-
Geotextile-Geonet Composites
Geotextile –Geomembrane
Composites
Geotextile –Geogrid Composites
Geomembrane –Geogrid Composite
Geotextile-Polymer Core Composite

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FUNCTION OF GEOSYNTHETIC MATERIALS:
A Comparative Review.
Types Of Re-
Separation Filtration Drainage Containment
Geosynthetics inforcement

Geotextile YES YES YES YES

Geogrid YES

Geonet YES

Geomembrane YES

G. Clay Liners YES

Geocells YES YES

Geofoam YES

Geocomposites YES YES YES YES YES

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 PROPERTIES
• mechanical responses,
– ability of a textile to perform work in a stressed environment and its
ability to resist damage in an arduous environment
– The ability to perform work is fundamentally governed by the
stiffness of the textile in tension and its ability to resist creep failure
under any given load condition
• filtration ability
– function is to hold intact a freshly prepared soil surface, so that
water may exude from the soil surface and through the textile
without breaking down that surface
• chemical resistance
– use of textiles in contact with highly acidic peat soils, where in
tropical countries, pH values down to 2 have been encountered
– Ultraviolet light 26
 RAW MATERIALS OF
GEOTEXTILES
• In general, synthetic and natural fibers are used. Natural fibers offer
high strength, high modulus, low breaking extension and low
elasticity. It should be noted that natural fiber yarns and fabrics
possess low levels of creep during use.
• Mineral fibers are brittle and lack strength and flexibility. Since
tensile strength is an important property for a geotextile, especially
for reinforcement applications, plant fibers show the greatest
potential for use in geotextiles.
• Some of the plant fibers that can be used in geotextile are jute, sisal,
flax, hemp, abaca, ramie and coir. The natural fiber-based
geotextiles are biodegradable, therefore these materials could be
specifically used for temporary functions. In summary, the main
advantages of using natural fibers in geotextiles are low cost,
robustness, strength/durability, availability, good drape ability and27
 FIBERS USED
Natural fibers offer high strength, high modulus, low breaking extension and low
elasticity.
Some of the plant fibres that
can be used in geotextile
manufacture are jute, sisal,
flax, hemp, abaca, ramie and
coir

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 ADV. OF NATURAL FIBERS

• low cost,
• robustness,
• strength/durability,
• availability,
• good drapeability
• biodegradability/
environment friendly

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 SYNTHETIC FIBERS

• Synthetic fibers are the main raw materials for the

manufacture of all types of geotextiles
– polypropylene, polyester, polyamide and polyethylene

• polyester widely used:

– exhibits superior creep resistance and tenacity values
– is almost inevitably used when high strengths are required
– applications where the geotextile is subjected to high
stresses and elevated temperatures
– susceptibility to hydrolytic degradation in soils exceeding
pH 10.
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 SYNTHETIC FIBERS
• PP
– low cost, acceptable tensile properties and
chemical inertness
– disadvantages of polypropylene are its sensitivity
to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and high temperature
and poor creep and mineral oil resistance
• PA
– cost and overall performance render it inferior to
polyester.

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SYNTHETIC FIBERS

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 SYNTHETIC LIMITATION

• Synthetic geotextiles can cost over 10 times as

much per unit area as natural ones
• non-biodegradable and may cause soil
pollution

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35
PET Vs PP in Geotextile Applications
Property PET PP
g/cm3 1.38 0.91- 0.93
Melting Point 265 165
Strain 10 -15 > 100 %
Creep < 2% 5%
Modulus (Gpa) 10 2.8
Breaking Elongation 20-50 % 40 -70 %
Breaking Tenacity 9 6
(gm/d)
UV Resistant High Susceptible
Polar solvents Degrade Resistant
pH > 9.5 3 -13
Hydrolysis
Moisture Regain 0.4 0

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 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Polymer has :
1. Superior Breaking Tenacity (Strength)
2. Superior creep characteristics required in some critical
reinforcement materials.

Polypropylene Polymer has distinct advantages

1. Resistant to chemical attack
2. Stable to pH between 3 and 13
3. Non-biodegradable
4. Resistant to soil-bound chemicals, landfill leaches, mildew and
insects.
5. Lightest fibre

 PET must not be used in contact with soils with pH >9.5

 For PET made Geotextiles hydrolytic resistance is required to be
observed.
 For Geotextile application in case of PP Oxidative resistance is required
to be observed.
Temperature resistance
PET is winning with a melting point of 265oC versus the 165oC of PP. This means that
for applications which need temperature resistance e.g. resistance to reflective
cracking in roads, PET is preferable.
 
Creep
 PET by far the best choice.
 
Chemical resistance
 Generally PP is better. PP is preferred for landfills.
 
Alkali resistance
Again PP is the better choice e.g. in touch with fresh concrete.
 
UV resistance
 
This is a PET domain. PP geotextiles should be improved with carbon black for a
better behavior to UV.

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 Technical Requirement for use in subsurface drains

• Breaking load not less than 10 kN/m

• Minimum Failure strain of 10%
• Apparent opening size 0.22mm – 0.43 as soil properties
• Allow water flow @ not less than 10lit/sqm/sec
• Minimum puncture resistance of 200 N
• Minimum tear resistance of 150N

PET is Preferable Than PP

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 Technical Requirement for use in Highway Pavement

• Minimum Tensile strength 36.3 Kg

• Elongation 50%
• Asphalt Retention 10 kg/10sqm
• Melting Point 150C
• Surface Texture- heat Bonded on one side only

PP is Preferable Than PET

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 Technical Requirement for use in Protection Works

• Aperture : Rectangular, square or oval

• Colour : Black
• Strength : Min 10kN/m
• Elongation: Max 15%
• Life : Min 8 years

PET is Preferable Than PP

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 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-by-function

method.
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 Functions of Geotextile :

The mode of operation of a geotextile in any application can

be defined by the following functions:

Reinforcement Drainage
Separator

Filter Container Energy absorber

 Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms
Geosynthetic can separate two layers of soil and thereby
Separation prevent intermixing.

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 WHY USE A GEOTEXTILES
SEPARATOR?
It is widely recognised that wet soils are weaker than dry soils and fine soils are
weaker than coarser soils. A suitable geotextiles can:
• Prevent the reduction of load bearing capacity caused by the mixing of fine-
grained subgrade with the aggregate base.
• Increase the bearing capacity by preventing the migration of aggregate or armour
blocks into soft subgrade. The use of a geotextiles can increase the degree of
compaction possible.
• Reduce the deterioration of roads through frost heave effects.

This results in:

• Lower installation costs due to lower aggregate requirements for the same
bearing capacity.
• Faster construction time.
• Lower maintenance costs.
• Increased road service life. 45
REQUIRED PROPERTIES FOR
SEPARATION

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 Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms
Filtration and Drainage
Bituminious Courses

Aggregate Bases

Geotextile Layer

Aggregate Drainage Layer

Subgrade

Geosynthetics can
allow water to pass
across the plane
while prevent or
retain the soil
particles. Geosynthetics can allow water to
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pass along its plane.
 FILTRATION

• The geotextiles maintains the filtration strata and prevents

finer particles being washed out thus ensuring consistent
and continuous drainage performance over a wide range
of civil engineering applications. This results in:
• Lower material costs since cheaper, coarser filtration
aggregates can be used.
• Faster and cheaper installation.
• More consistent long-term drainage performance.
• Preventing clogging of drainage systems.
• Preventing soil erosion.

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REQUIRED PROPERTIES FOR
FILTRATION

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 DRAINAGE
• Geotextile used for various drainage applications along with their
advantages are explained below.
• Drains with Typar and French drains
– Well-graded aggregate substituted by cheaper, coarse aggregate.
– Easy to install, very uniform.
– French drains without pipe.
• Vertical drains
– Allows up to 10 times faster settlement of soil under static load.
– Faster removal of water in saturated compressible soils.
– More economical than conventional vertical sand drains.
• Agricultural and pipe drains
– Corrugated pipe wrapped with Typar® can be put into subsoil with or without
digging a trench.
– Drainage surface of corrugated pipe is increased up to 90 times.
– Influence zone of wrapped drain is higher.
– Drain spacing can be increased.
– Stiffness of Typar® prevents fabric from entering the pipe corrugations. 50
 DRAINAGE
• Blanket drains in roads, in sports fields
– Optimal drainage system.
– In sport fields, the thickness of cover soil can be reduced and
the filtration and anti-contamination. Effects avoid clogging of
drainage blanket by soil particles carried by rainwater.
• Road and civil engineering drainage, side drains
– Optimal drainage system. Automated installation equipment.
• Wall drainage
– Prevents clogging of drainage slabs and toe drains.
– Avoids hydraulic pressure build-up in roads, prevents
contamination and failure of the drainage layer.

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DRAINAGE: REQUIRED
PROPTERIS

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 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.

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Geosynthetics can reinforce the soil mass and improve the
stability of structures in terms of strength and deformations
with respect to unreinforced soil.

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 ADV. OF REINFORCEMENT
• Geotextile used for various reinforcement applications along with their
advantages are explained below:
• Steep slopes
– Allows construction of steeper slopes.
– Savings in required land surface and fill material.
• Retaining walls
– Most economical retaining wall system.
– Accommodates settlements better than traditional methods.
• Waterworks, erosion control of earth dam slopes, river and lake
embankments
– Replaces a conventional well-graded filter between soil to be protected and
gabion, rip-rap or concrete slabs revetments.
– Special care to anchor Typar® at top and toe of the slope.
– For rip-rap revetment, install a layer of finer aggregate (5 to 10 cm) to protect
Typar® against puncturing and to ensure good fabric-to-soil contact for filtration.

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 ADV. OF REINFORCEMENT
• Erosion control of sea embankments, ocean and bay shores
– Big rip-rap must be installed on a bed of small sized aggregate to protect Typar ®
against puncturing and to dissipate water forces. A single layer of fabric held in
place by big rip-rap cannot resist the tons of pressure of breaking waves without
this support.
– The bed of aggregate (5 to 10 cm) ensures a good fabric-to-soil contact for efficient
filtration.
• Breakwater and jetties on soft soil sea bed
– Separation layer of Typar® prevents rip-rap from sinking into soft soil.
– Typar® must be protected by a layer of smaller-sized stones.
• Land reclamation with hydraulic fill
– Separation and filtration layer of Typar® avoids piping of hydraulic fill.
– Avoids use of expensive and difficult-to-install filter lay.
• Embankments on compressible soil
– Avoids contamination of filter layer by subsoil and/or fill.
– Allows uniform settlement.

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REQ. PROPERTIES OF
REINFORCEMENT

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 Geotextile Functions and Mechanisms

Sealing Function/Protection

New Overlay
Pavement Crack with
Paving Fabric

Reflective Crack without

Paving Fabric

Old Pavement

Base Course

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REQ. PROPERTIES OF
PROTECTION

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60
Performance Requirements of Geotextile
1. Physical properties:
a) specific gravity
b) weight
c) thickness
d) stiffness
e) density .
2. Mechanical properties:
a) tenacity
b) tensile strength
c) bursting strength
d) drapability
e) compatibility
f) flexibility
g) tearing strength
h) frictional resistance

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Performance Requirements of Geotextile
3. Hydraulic properties:
a) porosity
b) permeability
c) permittivity
d) transitivity
e) turbidity /soil retention
f) filtration length etc.

• 4. Degradation properties: 5. Endurance properties:

– a) biodegradation a) elongation
– b) hydrolytic degradation b) abrasion resistance
c) clogging length and flow etc.
– c) photo degradation
– d) chemical degradation
– e) mechanical degradation
– f) other degradation occurring due to attack of
– rodent, termite etc.
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 Types of Geotextiles/
Manufacturing Process
Today, we find four main geotextile types, which are defined
by the processes used in their manufacture:

1 Knitted
2 Woven
3 Nonwoven
4 Composite Geotextiles

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Nonwoven Geotextiles

Method of production Process Form of fibre Polymer

PP/PE bi-component
Continuous filament PP
Heat-bonded
Staple fibre
PP
PP/PE mix
Nonwovens
PP
PET
Staple fibre HDPE
Needle-punched
Continuous filament PP
PET

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Needle Punched nonwoven Thermally bonded nonwoven
 NONWOVEN
• More than 75% of the market utilises
geotextiles made from various nonwoven
fabrics, chiefly staple-fibre needlepunched
and continuous-filament spunbonded
nonwovens.
• Nonwoven materials are normally 25–30%
cheaper than woven materials

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Woven Geotextiles

Method of production Process Form of fibre Polymer

Slit-flat tape PP (HDPE)

Wide loom (beam) Fibrillated yarn PP

Wide loom (creel) Multi-filament yarn PET (PA)

Woven
Medium mono filament
<3.8m loom (beam) PP
with yarn
HDPE
PA

film tape extruded tape Monofil PET multifilament

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 WOVEN
• They have a surprisingly wide range of applications
and they are 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; the
heavier weight products also tend to be used for the
support of embankments built over soft soils
• Advantage - stress can be absorbed by the warp and
weft yarns and hence by fibres, without much
mechanical elongation

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 Knitted Geotextiles

Method of production Process Form of fibre Polymer

Nonwoven base with multi- PP or PET nonwoven

Stitched-bonded
filament stitch yarn PET stitching

Knitted Weft insertion filament yarn PET

Warp knitted Multi-filament yarn PET

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Knitted base Upper surface
FINISHING OF GEOTEXTILES

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NONWOVEN GEOTEXTILE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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 WOVEN GEOTEXTILE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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 KNITTED GEOTEXTILE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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 COMPOSITE GEOTEXTILE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS
• Various manufacturing processes can be used to combine
geotextiles together or with other types of geosynthetic
products. The three main types of processes used are
chemical (such as gluing), mechanical (such as needling or
quilting) and heat processes (such as fusion or flame
lamination). There are frequent developments in this field,
and new geocomposite products and processes appear
regularly on the market. In most cases, manufacturers make
use of their own methods, which are protected industrial
secrets, to protect their market. Many innovations have
appeared in this field in recent decades; some are successful
and others are less so.

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 TEXTILE IN CIVIL
ENGINEERING
• FRC (Fiber Reinforced Concrete): Concrete
containing a hydraulic cement, water ,
aggregate, and discontinuous discrete fibers is
called fiber reinforced concrete.
• Fibers can be in form of steel fiber, glass fiber,
natural fiber , synthetic fiber.
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 BENEFITS OF FRC
• Main role of fibers is to bridge the cracks that develop in
concrete and increase the ductility of concrete elements.
• Improvement on Post-Cracking behavior of concrete
• Imparts more resistance to Impact load
• controls plastic shrinkage cracking and drying shrinkage
cracking
• Lowers the permeability of concrete matrix and thus reduce
the bleeding of water

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 FACTORS AFFECTING THE
PROPERTIES OF FRC

• Volume of fibers
• Aspect ratio of fiber
• Orientation of fiber
• Relative fiber matrix stiffness
• Workability
• Size of coarse aggregate
• Mixing

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 VOLUME OF FIBER
• Low volume fraction (less than 1%)
– Used in slab and pavement that have large exposed
surface leading to high shrinkage cracking
• Moderate volume fraction(between 1 and 2 percent)
– Used in Construction method such as Shortcrete & in
Structures which requires improved capacity against
delamination, spalling & fatigue
• High volume fraction(greater than 2%)
– Used in making high performance fiber reinforced
composites (HPFRC)

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 Contd.

Source: P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete:

Microstructure, Properties, and Materials, Third Edition, Fourth 78
Reprint 2011
 ASPECT RATIO OF FIBER

• It is defined as ratio of length of fiber to it’s diameter (L/d).

• Increase in the aspect ratio upto 75,there is increase in
relative strength and toughness.
• Beyond 75 of aspect ratio there is decrease in aspect ratio and
toughness.

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 ORIENTATIOIN OF FIBER

• Aligned in the direction of load

• Aligned in the direction perpendicular to load
• Randomly distribution of fibers
– It is observed that fibers aligned parallel to applied load
offered more tensile strength and toughness than
randomly distributed or perpendicular fibers.

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 RELATIVE FIBER MATRIX
• Modulus of elasticity of matrix must be less than of fibers for
efficient stress transfer.
• Low modulus of fibers imparts more energy absorption while
high modulus fibers imparts strength and stiffness.
• Low modulus fibers e.g. Nylons and Polypropylene fibers
• High modulus fibers e.g. Steel, Glass, and Carbon fibers

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 WORKABILITY AND
COMPACTION OF CONCRETE
• Usage of steel fibres , higher aspect ratio and
non-uniform distribution of fibres will reduce
workability
• Prolonged external vibration fails to compact the
concrete
• These properties can be improved by increasing
water/cement ratio or by using water reducing
admixtures
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SIZE OF COARSE AGGREGATE

• Restricted to 10mm
• Friction between fibres and between fibres and
aggregates controls orientation and distribution.

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 MIXING

• Mixing of FRC needs careful precautions to

avoid balling effect and segregation
• Increase in aspect ratio, volume percentage
and size of coarse aggregate will increase the
difficulties.

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 APPLICATION OF FRC
MATERIALS

• Thin sheets
• curtain walls
• shingles
• roof tiles • Slabs on grade
• pipes • precast elements
• prefabricated shapes • Composite decks
• panels
• Vaults, safes.
• shotcrete
• Impact resisting structures

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MANUFACTURING PROCESS

• Casting
• Laminating
• Spraying
• Spinning
• Extruding

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APPLICATION AREAS OF DIFFERENT
MANUFACTURING METHODS

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