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Geotextile is a durable fabric that comes in many different forms, shapes, weights and sizes, because geotextiles are used to solve a wide range of erosion problems. Whether you work in construction or not, you have probably encountered geotextile at some point. Common residential examples of geotextile include weed barrier fabric under gardens or black underlayment under pavers.
In engineering construction, large construction projects. Geotextile is the preferred solution for solving many soil-related problems and can be used for temporary and permeability capabilities. Geotextiles excel at addressing four key erosion and soil-related applications: filtration, separation, reinforcement and stabilization.
Most people think of filtering sediment from water when they think of geotextile. It is a key characteristic of all types of geotextiles and the main reason why it is so effective. A common filtration application is silt fencing. Silt fences are geotextile filter fabrics fixed to fence posts that can downgrade from work sites or any location where soil is disturbed. When heavy rain rolls in and washes soil and sediment downhill, the runoff water will be filtered through the silt fence, preventing damage to local storm drains and waterways. Permanent use cases of geotextile filtration include French drainage systems. Geotextile is lined inside trenches or wrapped around drainage pipes to prevent sediment from accumulating inside and clogging the system.
Separation is one of the common applications of geotextile, and it has changed the rules of the construction industry. Taking road construction as an example, modern roads are built from layers of different materials. When the soil under the road gets wet, the underlying rocks and gravel will sink into the mud. Adding a layer of geotextile as a cushion creates separation and prevents the road from sinking. Why not use a plastic liner? Use geotextile instead of just a plastic liner or tarp, because water can pass through geotextile. If water cannot pass through these layers, it will accumulate between the layers, destroying the road from the inside. Landfills, railways and many other applications also use the same separation principle.
When engineers face the challenging task of preventing the failure of inherently unstable structures such as embankments and retaining walls, they again rely on geotextile to provide reinforcement. On man-made embankments, geotextile can be laid in layers to increase the shear strength of the soil. Shear strength measures the resistance or friction of soil particles sliding against each other. Engineers want to minimize and prevent sliding on embankments as much as possible. Geotextile is also often wrapped around the exterior of embankments, reinforced with wire mesh, to prevent the vertical faces of embankments from being eroded. You will often see this system on stone walls near roads. Geotextile can transform wet unstable bases into consistently stable surfaces. Placing geotextile on wet compressible soil is a common stabilization method. When the soil compresses into a stable layer, the liquid in the soil can escape through the geotextile layer.
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