CE 601: Geosynthetic

Geosynthetic
1)
2)
3)
4)
5))
6)
7)
8)

Geotextile (GT)
Geogrid (GG)
Geonet (GN)
Geomembrane (GM)
Geosynthetic
y
clay
y liner ((GCL))
Geofoam (GF)
Geocell (GL)
Geocomposite (GC)

Geosynthetic
Separation Reinforcement Filtration Drainage Containment
Type of Geosynthetic (GS)
Geotextile (GT)
X
X
X
X
Geogrid (GG)
X
Geonet (GN)
X
Geomembrane (GM)
X
Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL)
X
Geofoam (GF)
X
Geocells (GL)
X
X
Geocomposite (GC)
X
X
X
X
X

1. Geotextile (GT)
Geotextiles are permeable
fabrics which
which, when used in
association with soil, have the
ability to separate, filter,
reinforce, protect, or drain.
Typically made from
polypropylene or polyester,
geotextile fabrics come in three
basic forms: woven
(resembling mail bag sacking),
needle punched (resembling
felt), or heat bonded
(resembling ironed felt).

1. Geotextile (GT)

1. Geotextile

1. Geotextile

1. Geotextile

1. Geotextile (Coirgreen)

1.Geotextile
Geotextile:
St bili ti off an
Stabilization
unpaved road

1.Geotextile
Geotextile: Control of reflection cracking

1.Geotextile
Geotextile: Reinforcement with Wrap around
f i method
facing
th d

Geotextile: Separation

Geotextile: Separation

Geotextile:
Filtration &
Drainage

2. Geogrid (GD)
A geogrid is geosynthetic material used to
reinforce soils and similar materials.
Geogrids are commonly used to reinforce
retaining walls, as well as subbases or
subsoils below roads or structures.
Soils pull apart under tension. Compared
to soil, geogrids are strong in tension. This
fact allows them to transfer forces to a
larger area of soil than would otherwise be
the case.
Geogrids are commonly made of polymer materials, such as polyester,
polyethylene or polyproylene. They may be wovern or knitted from yarns, heatwelded from strips of material, or produced by punching a regular pattern of
holes in sheets of material, then stretched into a grid.

3. Geonet (GN) or Geospacers

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 often laminated with
geotextiles
geotext
es o
on o
onee o
or bot
both su
surfaces
aces and
a d aaree
then referred to as drainage geocomposites.
They are competitive with other drainage
geocomposites having different core
configurations.

4. Geomembrane (GM)
A geomembrane is very low
permeability synthetic membrane
liner or barrier used with any
geotechnical engineering related
material so as to control fluid (or
gas) migration in a human-made
project, structure, or system.

Geomembranes are made from relatively thin continuous polymeric sheets, but
they can also be made from the impregnation of geotextiles with asphalt,
elastomer or polymer sprays, or as multilayered bitumen geocomposites.
Continuous polymer sheet geomembranes are, by far, the most common.

5. GCL
Geosynthetic clay liners, or GCLs,
are an interesting juxtaposition of
polymeric materials and natural
soils. They are rolls of factory
fabricated thin layers of bentonite
clay sandwiched between two
geotextiles or bonded to a
geomembrane.
Structural integrity of the
subsequent composite is obtained
by needle-punching, stitching or
adhesive bonding.
GCLs are used as a composite component beneath a geomembrane or
by themselves in geoenvironmental and containment applications as
well as in transportation, geotechnical, hydraulic, and many private
development applications.

6. Geofoam (GF)
Geofoam is expanded
polystyrene (EPS) or
extruded
d d polystyrene
l
(XPS) manufactured into
large lightweight blocks.
The blocks vary in size
but are often 2 m x 0.75
m x 0.75 m.
The primary function of
geofoam is to provide a
lightweight void fill
below a highway, bridge
approach, embankment
or parking lot.

10

Geofoam

G f
Geofoam
(GF)
EPS Geofoam minimizes settlement on underground utilities. Geofoam is also used in
much broader applications, the major ones being as lightweight fill, green roof fill,
compressible inclusions, thermal insulation, and (when appropriately formed) drainage.

7. Geocell (GL)
Geocells (also called Cellular confinement systems, or CCS's) are used in civil
engineering for roadway load support, walls and steep slopes, channel protection
and
d erosion
i control.
l
They are typically made from ultrasonically welded high density polyethylene
strips and expanded on-site to form a honeycomb structure which is subsequently
filled with sand, gravel, locally available soil, or concrete.

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8. Geocomposite (GC)
A geocomposite consists of a
combination of geotextiles, geogrids,
geonets and/or geomembranes in a
factory fabricated unit. Also, any one
of these four materials can be
combined with another synthetic
material (e.g., deformed plastic sheets
or steel cables) or even with soil.
As examples, a geonet or geospacer
with g
geotextiles on both surfaces and
a GCL consisting of a
geotextile/bentonite/geotextile
sandwich are both geocomposites.
This specific category brings out the best creative efforts of the engineer and manufacturer
The application areas are numerous and constantly growing. The major functions
encompass the entire range of functions listed for geosynthetics discussed previously:
separation, reinforcement, filtration, drainage, and containment

Various Drainage conditions

12

Failure wedge
& Modes

Patterns of Reinforcement beneath Footing

13

Construction of Embankment using Geosynthetic

Failure modes of
Embankment built
on soft soil using
Geosynthetics

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Thank You

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