Europe, geotextiles

Bernhard, L.(1996), Amoco Fabrics Europe, Gronau/Germany, Mineral filled geotextiles, The Ultimate Protection System for Geosynthetic Liners in Safe Waste Management, World Textile Congress on Polypropylene in Textiles, University of Huddersfield, UK, July 1996. 

As the economy picks up in Europe, the eonstruetion industry should offer interesting growth opportunities for PP in carpets as well as woven and nonwoven geotextiles. In the medical industry, PP will get a boost, as radiation sterilizable grades become available. 

The modem history of MSW structures can be traced back to the 1960s with the advent of steel strip walls first constmcted in France. In the 1970s, modem polymeric sheet materials (geotextiles) were first employed as the soil reinforcement material in wall stmctures located in Europe and North America. Today, MSWs are ubiquitous for the earth retaining wall function. Their use and the methodologies to design these stmctures are well established and accepted. Conventional static design methods for stmctures in non-seismic areas have been extended to accommodate the additional loads that develop as a result of earthquake. 

However, this review will be somewhat different from the others in that geotextile developments in Europe (initially with nonwoven fabrics) will be presented first, with developments in America (initially with woven fabrics) following. The interchange between Europe and America up until 1977 will then be described along with developments in several other countries. Almost immediately after the first international... 

Other countries in Europe also had individual investigators working with geotextiles in civil engineering applications but often lacked the impetus given by large chemical companies which had the resources in both personnel and materials as mentioned. 

Another change could occur related to the use of thickness properties. Currentiy in Europe, the thickness of geotextiles is used in calculations for filtration potential. More widespread use of this practice could make thickness, not just a physical property measured for manufacturing quality control, but as a performance tool. 

The volume for durable non-wovens exceeds that used for disposables in Europe. Europe has a longer history in the use of durable non-wovens, in particular geotextiles and roofing substrates. This is in contrast to the North American market, where disposable non-wovens play a stronger role as discussed above. 

Empty geotextile tubes are normally described in terms of either theoretical diameter (this occurs in Europe, Africa and Asia) or circumference (this occurs in the Americas) (Fig. 20.5(a)). However, these two parameters are of little practical use from an engineering perspective because it is the tube parameters when filled that are of engineering importance. Fig. 20.5(b) shows the filled parameters of importance, while Table 20.1 lists the approximate values of these parameters when the geotextile mbe has been filled to maximum fill height, ie, at = 0.5 Dj. The ratio of filled height to theoretical... 

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