GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING, AMRAVATI

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

TYPES OF
GEOSYNTHETICS
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
 Geosynthetics is the collective term applied to thin,
flexible, sheets of material incorporated in or about soil
to enhance its engineering properties.
 Geosynthetics is defined by the International
Geosynthetics Society as “planer polymeric material
used in contact with soil or rock or any other
geotechnical material in civil engineering application.
 Geosynthetics are the man made products,
manufactured from synthetic polymeric materials and
sometime from natural materials.
RAW MATERIALS

FIBRE
 SYNTHETICS  NATURAL
1. Polypropylene 1. Banana
2. Polyester 2. Coir
3. Polyamide
3. Kenaf
4. Glass
4. Jute
5. Polyethylene (HD/LDPE)
6. PVC
TYPES OF GEOSYNTHETICS
 Geosynthetics are classified under five
groups as follows:
1. Geotextiles 8. Geofoam
2. Geomembranes 9. Geocomposites
3. Geogrids
4. Geonets
5. Geopipes
6. Geosynthetic clay liners
7. Geocell
GEOTEXTILES
 These are porous geosynthetics that resemble a thick
strong cloth or blanket with its strands and fibers
visible.
 They are planer, permeable, polymeric materials that

usually made from polypropylene and sometimes from

polyester, polyethylene or from fibers such as jute.
 They can be woven, non-woven or knitted.
WOVEN GEOTEXTILES
 Manufactured by adopting
technique similar to weave
clothing textiles i.e. weaving
or interlacing of two or more
sets of fibers or yarns at right
angles.
 Good tensile strength but poor
abrasion resistance.
 Low coefficient of
permeability and no ability to
transmit water within their
plane.
MULTIFILAMENT WOVEN FABRIC
NON WOVEN GEOTEXTILE
 These are produced by
mechanical bonding or
needle punching of
randomly oriented fibers
i.e. in a manner similar to
that used in making
blankets.
 In some cases they are

bonded thermally or
chemically
 These are not load

NONWOVEN NEEDLE resisting since their tensile

PUNCHED
strength is limited.
 They have high permeability and hence provide better
filtration and drainage.

 It also acts as a separator between two different soil

materials.
NONWOVEN HEAT BONDED
KNITTED GEOTEXTILES

 These are obtained by

interlooping one or
more yarns, fibers or
filaments.
 The properties of knitted

geotextiles are different

from the other two.
 However the geotextiles

can be 0.25 to 7.5 mm

thick and have a mass
per unit area of 150 to
200 g/m2
COIR GEOTEXTILE
GEOMEMBRANES
 These are impervious geosynthetics that resemble
thick, flexible plastic sheets and are usually
smoothed surfaced.
 They are manufactured from high density

polyethylene (HDPE) or flexible polyethylene

(VFPE) and sometimes polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
 They are 0.25 to 3 mm thick and have a range of 250

– 3000 gsm.
 These are suitable for forming waterproof barriers
between soil and fluid.
 The membranes fabricated in the factory and on the

site are different.

 In case of on-site, a warm or cold viscous material is

applied directly on the surface.

GEOMEMBRANES
GEOGRIDS
 Geogrids are mesh-like or grid like
geosynthetics with square or rectangular
apertures.
 These are planer polymeric structure

consisting of regular open network of

connected tensile elements (ribs) which are
linked by extrusion, bonding or interlacing
with square or rectangular openings that are
larger than the thickness of the ribs.
 They are generally made from HDPE or
polypropylene and sometimes from polyester.
 The % open area of geogrids lies between 40

to 90%.
 Opening width lies between 10- 100 mm
 The rib thickness ranges from 5- 15 mm
 The mass lies in the range of 200- 1500 mm
TYPES OF GEOGRIDS
 Extruded geogrids - polymer sheets are
perforated first and then streched in one
direction while it is gently heating.
 Uniaxial geogrids - the action of streching

gives high tensile stiffness in that direction.

 Biaxial geogrids - when the uniaxial grid is

streched in the transverse direction.

 Extruded geogrids • Extruded geogrids are rigid
in nature as compared to
geotextile.
• Uniaxial geogrids are used
for reinforcing soil structure
and the biaxial geogrids are
used for gabions.

 UNIAXIAL STRETCHED PE –  BIAXIAL STRETCHED PP - GEOGRID

GEOGRID
 • Geogrids are also
produced by
bonding two or
more sets of strands
or other elements at
right angles.
COATED PET -
GEOGRIDS
GEONETS
 These are similar to geogrids but have thinner
members and angular apertures resembling
parallelograms.
 These are planner polymeric materials consisting of

two sets of roughly round polymer strands that cross

at a constant angle to give open material with large
diamond shaped apertures of 2 mm and 7 mm
respectively.
 Nets are sometimes lightly streched during

manufacture to increase the elastic modulus.

GEONETS
GEOCOMPOSITES
 These are multilayered geosynthetics attached or
bonded to each other comprising of combination of
geotextile, geomembranes, geogrids and geonets.

 The composites have better properties to meet the

needs of a specific applications.

 In some cases geosynthetics are combined with other

materials like clay or bentonite to a geotextile to yield
a geocomposites known as ‘Geosynthetics Clay
Liner’(GCL).
GEOCOMPOSITES
 • These consists of flexible
GEOMATS
three dimensional polymer
mat which is used to control
the soil erosion.
• It initially stabilizes the
surface and assist vegitation
to establish on ground.
• It is in the form of
manufactured sheet
consisting of a non-regular
network of synthetics fibers,
yarns, filaments, tapes or
other elements which are
thermally or mechanically
TURF REINFORCEMENT connected.
GEOMATS
EROSION CONTROL BLANKET
GEOSYNTHETIC CLAY LINER(GCL)
• It is a manufactured
sheet, having a central
core of bentonite clay
between two geotextile
and needle punched or
otherwise bonded
together.
PREFABRICATED VERTICAL DRAIN (PVD)
PREFABRICATED VERTICAL DRAIN (PVD)

• A prefabricated drainage composites are

typically two component structures consisting
of a three dimensional drain core with a outer
fabric cover.
• The core acts as a collector and transport
ground water while the fabric cover acts as a
filtering medium.
• These replaces the conventional sand drains as
they provide consistent in place drainage and
can reduce the material cost, installation time.
GEOCELLS

It consists of series of interlocking cells,

constructed from polymer geogrid reinforcement
which contains and confine the granular layer.
GEOFOAM
• RIGID CELLULAR
POLYSTYRENE GEOFOAM:
Block or planar rigid cellular foam
polymeric material used in
geotechnical engineering
applications.

• EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE
(EPS) GEOFOAM :
EPS geofoam is a lightweight,
rigid foam plastic that is
approximately 100 times lighter
than most soil and at least 20 to 30
times lighter than other
lightweight fill alternatives.
GEOPIPES
ADVANTAGES
 Cheaper in production cost, transport and installation.
 Can be designed (predictability).
 Can be installed quickly with flexibility to construct during short period.
 Consistent over a wide range of soils.
 Space Savings.
 Material Quality Control - More homogeneous than soil and aggregates.
 Better Construction Quality Control at site.
 Easy Material Deployment.
 Less Environmentally Sensitive.
 Improved performance and extended life.
 Increased safety factor.
 Compatible with field conditions.