GEOSYNTHETICS IN ROAD

CONSTRUCTIONS

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Content:
• Introduction
• Objective
• Timeline
• Methodology
• Experimental Study
• Effect of geosynthetics on Bearing capacity of soil
• Effect of geosynthetics on CBR value of Subgrade.
• Self comment
• Pending work
• References

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INTRODUCTION
Scope of study
• In current construction practice, the geosynthetic layers are often utilised for improving weak
soil subgrade for paved and unpaved road.
• The benefit of utilising geosynthetics in pavement can be seen in performance and durability as
well as in construction and economy.

Geosynthetics ?
• A planar product manufactured from polymeric material used with soil rock, earth or other
geotechnical engineering related material as an integral part of a man-made project, structure, or
system.
• Major polymers used in manufacturing of geosynthetics are polypropylene and polyester other
polymers used includes PVC, Polyamide, Polyethylene, Polyvinyl alcohol, Aramids, etc.

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Types of Geosynthetics Used in Civil Engineering
1) Geotextiles
1.1) Natural – jute, coir. 1.2) Synthetic - polypropylene, polyester fibre or HDPE.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Fig 1. Natural geotextile: (a) Jute, (b) Coir. Fig 2. Typical geotextile : (c) Woven, (d) Non-woven ,(e) Knitted

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2) Geogrids

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 3. Typical geogrids: extruded (a) uniaxial; (b) biaxial); (c) bonded; and (d) woven

3) Geonets 4) Geomembrane

Fig. 4. Typical geonets Fig. 5. Typical geomembranes

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Functions and applications of Geosynthetics.

• Separation
• Filtration
• Reinforcement
• Erosion control
• Drainage
• Barrier

Fig 6. Multiple functions of geosynthetics in roadway applications.

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Applications of Geosynthetics in Roadway (Zornberg. 2019)
• Mitigation of reflective cracking in • Separation
asphalt overlays

(a) (b) (a) (b)

Fig 7 Use of geosynthetics in mitigation of Fig 8 Use of geosynthetics in separation:

reflective cracking in asphalt overlays: (a) roadway designed without geosynthetics,
(a) roadway designed without geosynthetics, (b) roadway designed with geosynthetics.
(b) roadway designed with geosynthetics.
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• Stabilization of road bases • Stabilization of road subgrades

(a) (b) (a) (b)

Fig 9. Use of geosynthetics in stabilization of road Fig 10 Use of geosynthetics in stabilization of road
bases: subgrades:
(a) roadway designed without geosynthetics, (a) roadway designed without geosynthetics,
(b) roadway designed with geosynthetics. (b) roadway designed with geosynthetics
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• Lateral drainage

(a) (b)

Fig 11. Use of geosynthetics in improved internal drainage:

(a) roadway designed without geosynthetics,
(b) roadway designed with geosynthetics

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 Experimental Study
 Effect of geosynthetics on bearing capacity of sand bed (Latha and Somwanshi 2009)

• Experimental study:
• Steel tank – dimensions 900*900*600 mm
• Footing – dimensions 150*150*25 mm
• Geosynthetics Used
• Geogrid and Geonet
• Reinforcement Layout - Planar

Table 1 : Properties of geosynthetics.

Property Type of Geosynthetic material

WG SG UG GN
Tensile Strength 20 40 40 7.6
(kN/m) Fig 12 Schematic diagram of the test set-up.
Aperture Size (mm) 35x35 30x30 220x17.2 1.5x1.5
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Result and Discussions

Fig 13 Variation of bearing pressure with footing Fig 14 Variation of bearing pressure with
settlement for different types of geosynthetics -test footing settlement for different depths of
series A reinforced zone- test series B and C.
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Fig 15 Variation of bearing pressure with footing
settlement for different spacings of geosynthetic layers
- test series D.

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CONCLUSION (Latha and Somwanshi 2009)

1. Effective depth of the zone of reinforcement below a square footing is twice the width of the
footing.
2. Within the effective reinforcement zone, the optimum spacing of reinforcing layers is about 0.4
times the width of the footing.
3. Apart from the tensile strength of reinforcement, its layout and configuration play vital role in
increasing the bearing capacity. Even weaker geonet, when arranged in optimum spacing and layers,
provides much better benefit than strong reinforcement.

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  Effect of Geosynthetics on CBR Value of Subgrade (Singh et al., 2019)
• Experimental Study
• CBR Test as per IS: 2720 (Part 16) – 1979

• Geosynthetic Reinforcement
• Geogrid and Geomat
• Single Layer at H/2, H/3, H/4 depth
• Double Layer at H/4 depth form top and bottom
of specimen
Where H = height of soil specimen of CBR mould

Table 2 : Properties of geosynthetics.

Property Type of Geosynthetic material

Glass Tenax Tenax

Grid 3D grid multimat Fig 16. Schematic representation of the specimen in CBR test model,
Tensile Strength 115 30 30 position of geosynthetic is, ξ=H/2, H/3 and H/4 for single layer of
(kN/m) reinforcement and ξ=ξ′=H/4, for double layers of reinforcement.
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Result and Discussion

Fig. 5.6. Load penetration curve with Fig. 5.7. Load penetration curve with
geosynthetic placed at, ξ=H/2. geosynthetic placed at, ξ=H/3.

Fig. 17. Load penetration curve with Fig. 18. Load penetration curve with double
geosynthetic placed at, ξ=H/4. geosynthetic layer placed at
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ξ=ξ′= H/4.
  reinforcement ratio η,
η=
CBRR – CBR value of reinforced soil
CBR – CBR value of unreinforced soil

Fig. 19 Variation in reinforcement ratio for the

various positions of geosynthetic reinforcement.

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Conclusion (Singh et al., 2019)

1. The inclusion of a single layer and double layer of geosynthetic reinforcement at varying
depth in soil enhances the strength of the subgrade in term of CBR value.
2. The CBR value of the soil subgrade increased by 5-60% for single layer reinforcement and
for double layer double layer 112-325%
3. Placing the geosynthetics reinforcement in the double layers yields the largest improvement
regardless of the type of geosynthetics.

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 COMMENTS

1. Literature (Zornberg. 2019) give general ideas on five most important application of geosynthetics
in road construction.

2. From both of the above study(Latha and Somwanshi 2009 and M. Singh et al., 2019 ), it is evident
that there is considerable amount of increase in strength of subgrade soil reinforced with
geosynthetics and amount of increment depends upon the properties and type of geosynthetics, depth
and number of reinforcement layers and mechanism involved.

3. In first experimental study (Latha and Somwanshi 2009), it is not explained properly how it will
relate to in situ condition.

4. In second experimental study (Singh et al., 2019) , relation to in-situ application is provided but in
limited amount. As the result can be simulated only for sub grade having the same height after
compaction as that of the height of specimen in CBR mould.

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 REFERENCES
1. Zornberg, J. G. (2017). Functions and applications of geosynthetics in roadways. Procedia
engineering, 189, 298-306.

2. Latha, G. M., & Somwanshi, A. (2009). Bearing capacity of square footings on geosynthetic
reinforced sand. Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 27(4), 281-294.

3. Singh, M., Trivedi, A., & Shukla, S. K. (2019). Strength enhancement of the subgrade soil of
unpaved road with geosynthetic reinforcement layers. Transportation Geotechnics, 19, 54-60.

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Thank you

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