Road reinforcement, geotextiles

Civil engineering Geotextiles and geomembranes Road reinforcement, pond... 

Reinforcement Geotextiles are used to increase the load-bearing capacity of soft soils or to absorb significant frictional forces at the interface of soil and a smooth surface where there is a risk of sliding. Reinforcement is an application used often in the field of road engineering. 

The use of reinforcing geotextiles can increase the module of a soft soil and satisfy load-hearing requirements in the construction of a road or road-building project (bridge, overpass, etc.). This application is also used in the field of environmental engineering to increase the frictional force of a smooth geomembrane. 

Giroud J-P, Noirey L. Geotextile-reinforced nnpaved road design. Geotechnical Division ASCE 1981 107 1233-54. 

On weak substrates the geotextile is likely to extend the service life of a road by a factor of 2.5-3.0 times compared to a non-stabilised construc-tion. ° Roads built in closed mining areas can be susceptible to sink holes suddenly occurring, owing to the collapse of old mine shafts resulting from sub-erosion processes. Road constructions in mining areas are, therefore, reinforced with uniaxial or biaxial geogrids. 

Giroud, J. P. and Noiray, L. (1981), Design of geotextile reinforced unpaved roads. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, 107, No. GT9, pp. 1233-1254. 

Textile reinforcement, called geotextiles, are used extensively in geotechnics for earth constructions walls, footings, road and runway foundations, etc. Asphalt matrices are also reinforced with polymer fabrics. 

Geotextiles are those fabrics used in geotechnical applications, such as road and railway embankments, earth dikes, and coastal protection structures, designed to perform one or more basic functions such as filtration, drainage, separation of soil layers, reinforcement, or stabilisation. Therefore, almost every geotextile application is multifunctional. 

The use of reinforcing geosynthetics in slopes is a commonly used technique in road embankment construction and can be used to stabilise slopes of bunds or dikes. The geotextile types used for soil reinforcement are woven high strength materials or geogrid type of materials. The design with these elements is outside the scope of this Manual. 

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