Geosynthetics have become well established construction materials for geotechnical applications in most parts of the world. Because they constitute manufactured materials, new products and applications are developed on a routine basis to provide solutions to routine and critical problems alike. Results from recent research and from monitoring of instrumented structures throughout the years have...

In order to improve the bearing capacity of soft ground for the purpose of getting trafficability of construction vehicles, the reinforcement of geosynthetics for sand-mat layers on soft ground has often been used. As the strength of the geosynthetics increases, and the sand-mat system becomes stronger, the bearing capacity of sand-mat systems will be increased. The depths of geosynthetics, rei...

Geosynthetics are planar polymeric products, which are used in connection with soil, rock or other soil-like materials to fulfill various functions in geoenvironmental engineering. Geosynthetics are of ever-growing importance in the construction industry. Sealing of waste storage facilities to safely prevent the emission of wastewater, landfill gas and contaminated dust as well as the diffusion...

Determining the deformation response of geosynthetics under load is important in developing an in-depth understanding of the engineering behavior of these materials. Current strain determination methods employed as part of tensile tests mostly assume that the strain is uniform throughout the specimen and, hence, are incapable of determining local strains. Geosynthetics have occasionally been in...

Localized strains due to production defects, seams, and punctured zones significantly affect mechanical performance of geosynthetic materials. Accurate determination of localized strains becomes particularly important for quality control/quality assurance evaluation of these materials and may play a critical role in design problems. A battery of tensile tests was conducted on 12 different geosy...

Stability of Geosynthetic Lining Systems is, for a geotechnical standpoint, a complex matter. Three geomechanical questions were identified: sliding of the geosynthetic lining system on slope, pull-out strength of the geosynthetic anchorage at the top of the slope, rain erosion of the cap cover. Research programmes carried out in France on these topics, , are presented. Use of laboratory facili...

A pavement structure consists of several layers for the primary purpose of transmitting and distributing traffic loads to the subgrade. Rutting is one form of pavement distresses that may influence the performance of road pavements. Geosynthetics is one type of synthetic materials utilized for improving the performance of pavements against rutting. Various studies have been conducted on using d...

An elective module on geosynthetics was designed and made available to Civil Engineering students (5 years’ integrated masters). This paper reports a hands-on activity using sand and paper, adopted as part of a problem-based learning (PBL) model and the feedback collected in 2011/2012 using questionnaires. The model and its main features are briefly described, particularly the problem on soil r...

In the context of sustainable development which is a balancing act between the fulfilment of human needs and the protection of the natural environment, the use of natural fibers such as coir in geotechnical applications is desirable. Reinforcing the soil with coir fibers/coir geotextiles is a cost effective solution to the ground/soil improvement problems. The effects of fiber parameters on the...

In recent years rapid development of infrastructures in metro cities compounded with scarcity of useful land and compelled the engineers to improve the properties of soil to bear the load transferred by the infrastructure e.g Buildings, bridges, roadways railways etc. The engineering techniques of ground improvement are removal and replacement, pre-compression, vertical drains, in-situ densific...