Geotextile: Past, Present

and Future in Pakistan.

Eng. Hafsa Riaz ,Assistant Professor,
Department of Fabric Manufacturing,
National Textile University, Sheikhupura
Road, Faisalabad
37610,Pakistan,Email:hrntu@hotmail.com

OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS GEOTEXTILE ?
IMPLICATED EXAMPLES AS WORLDWIDE
AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILES ARE USED IN PAKISTAN
FUNCTIONS OF GEOTEXTILES
RAW MATERIAL
TYPES OF GEOTEXTILE
PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILES
MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY
RECOMMENDATIONS

7NSOHSE

INTRODUCTION
Textiles have been used for thousands of years .
Textiles were used in roadway construction in
the days of the Pharaohs to stabilize roadways
and their edges .
Textile are not only clothing for human body, but
also for our motherland in order to protect her.
Geotextiles has proven to be among the most
versatile and cost-effective ground modification
materials.

 Babylonians
constructed Ziggurat
in Dur-Kurigatz
( present Agar Quf)
3000years ago used
natural fiber for
reinforcement
The Great Wall of
China , completed
circa 200 BC, used
tamarisk branches
with mixture of clay
for reinforcement .

GEOTEXTILE
According to the definition of ASTM

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 human-made project,
structure, or system."

WORLD CONSUMPTION OF
GEOTEXTILES

Source: Geosynthetics David Cook (2003), Freedonia Group (2009 )

CONSUMPTION WISE FORECAST

Source: DRA (2005-2010)

The world demand for Geo- Textiles is

projected at about 4715 million square
meters by 2014 mostly from China and
other East Asian countries.
Asia and other developing regions of the
world are much more likely to see a
sustained programme of infrastructure
projects over the next decade and beyond.

IMPLICATED EXAMPLES
WORLDWIDE
PalmJumeirah Island,
Dubai
Beijing Olympics
Architecture
Levees in New
Orleans, Hurricane
Katrina

AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILES ARE

USED IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan Motorway M-1 (IslamabadPeshawar) Geotextiles are laid at 7th - 8th Km
portion of road Peshawar Toll Plaza.
Karakorum highway. At some places where
soil remains under wet conditions or land is
too soft.
Merani dam Baluchistan
Sabakzai dam project Baluchistan

AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILE

CAN BE USED IN PAKISTAN
For constructing of roads where heavy traffic is more
common Geotextiles is an added advantage The use of
Geo-Textiles can increase the road life by 10 to 15 years
and reduce cost.
For lining of canals and dams to prevents water leakage
by using Geo-Membrane clay liners. Seepage of water
from canals is a major problem and up to 20% water is
reported as lost in Pakistan.
Floating covers for water reservoirs in Pakistan to
prevent evaporation of water.
Water transport utilizing Geo-Membranes.
Improvement in the use of water in agriculture in
Pakistan involving the use of Geo-Membranes.

FUNCTIONS OF GEOTEXTILES

Seperation
Filtration
Drainage
Reinforcements

RAW MATERIAL
Natural fibers which are commonly used
are jute, flax, coconut matting, cotton and
straw.
Geotextiles are made from polypropylene,
polyester, polyethylene, polyamide (nylon),
polyvinylidene chloride, and fiberglass.
Polypropylene and polyester are mostly
used .

TYPES OF GEOTEXTILE

Woven

Non-woven

Knitted

PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILES
The three main properties which are
required and specified for geo textile are;
Mechanical property
Filtration ability
Chemical resistance

SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Woven geo textile

Loom type: Narrow loom
Raw material: Polypropylene
Weave design: Plain 1/1
Weft: Tape yarn of polypropylene is used
Warp: Multi filament polypropylene yarn is used.
Warp: 207 Tex
Weft: 129.78 Tex
Ends/inch: 17
Picks/inch: 13

NARROW LOOM , NTU

SAMPLE OF GEOTEXTILE

RECOMMENDATIONS

Geo textile is a new field, which appears with in the short span of
time very rapidly in the world. Main obstacle to the
growth of geo textiles in Pakistan :
is the level of human expertise
growth of technical textile is the absence of legislative
encouragements on part of the government.
If government of Pakistan takes interest, we can use our scientific
expertise in the field of geo textile, and also save our foreign
exchange and also reduce their cost, because that field is a future
demand in recent years.
Support of government of Pakistan is required to develop the
base for the technical textile education.
Government level incentives should be announced to encourage
the industries for the production of technical textiles and the end
users should be encouraged for geo synthetics uses.
Human resource development for the specific technical textiles

RECOMMENDATIONS
Experimental work should be encouraged for the development of
technical textiles.
Continuous awareness program should be conducted for all the
stake holders.
It should be added as a major course among the textile
universities course line.
Research and advisory centers should be established all over
the country.
Testing and standardization should be developed at the centers
to make the standards developed for the technical textiles

What is India doing?

Several positive schemes in 11th five year plan
(2007 2012) to support the growth of nonwoven
and technical textile industry.
National Mission for Technical Textiles launched
in 2007
a budget of US$ 170 million for the next five year
period.

Technical textile industry growth target is 12-15

billion dollars by 2012.
Indian Government has planned to invest in 20 centers
of excellence

References

A R Horrocks and S C Anad, eds 2000,Handbook of Technical Textiles,Woodhead Publishing Ltd.

ASTM (1994), Annual Books of ASTM Standards, American Society Testing andMaterials,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Volume 4.08 (1), Soil and Rock. Volume 4.08 (2)
David Rigby Associates (2009) Retrived January 20,2009,from www.davidrigby-associates.com
Engineering use of geotextiles, 20 July 1995ARMY TM 5-818-8Air force AFJMAN 32-1030
Technical manual . WASHINGTON, DC, 20 July 1995.
GS.Hwang,C.K.Lu,M.F.Lin,B.L.Hwu and W.H.Hsing, Text.Res.J
.69(1999)pp.565-569.
M.Pritchard, 1999,Vegetable fiber geotextiles,Phd dissertation .University of Bolton .UK
K.R.Lekha,Geotex,Geomembrane22(2004) pp.399-413
Koerner , R. M., 1993Designing with Geosynthetics, Third edition, Prentice Hall.
P R Rankilor 28 May-1st June 1977,Designing with Terram, a Technical design manual published
by ICI fibers Terramdivision,
PR Rankilor, 1990The fundamentals definition and classification of warp knitted DSF geotextiles
for civil engineering and geotechnical end usesInternational geotextiles societys 4 th international
conference on Geotextiles,Geomembrane and related products, ,pp819-823.
R M Koerner and J P Welsh 1980,Construction and Geotechnical Engineering using Synthetic
fabrics ,John Wiley & Sons ,New York .
Y.Wang,Journal of Ind. Text.30(2001)pp.53-64
Van Zanten, R. V. (1986). Geotextiles and Geomembranes in Civil Engineering, A. A. Balkema
Publ., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 685 pgs

Acknowledgement
The author acknowledge Malik Asad
Awan, Sheharyar Hafeez, Rana
Muhammad Touseef Anwar and staff of
National Textile University .

CLEANER
PRODUCTION

Classification of Geosynthetics

The government should start by giving research incentives to textile

industries and end users for the production and use of geo textiles, and
eventually as the industry progress there is also a possibility of making the
use of geo synthetics mandatory. Industrialists in Pakistan might resist the
change from conventional products to this innovative market. There is

an initial risk involved, but the idea is to create awareness that

opportunity cost is still very high.
The coating materials mainly used in the geo synthetics we are all
imported from outsides from Pakistan. If government of Pakistan
takes interest, we can use our scientific expertise in the field of geo
textile, and also save our foreign exchange and also reduced their
cost, because that field is a future demand in recent years.