Design and development of woven jute geotextiles for potential applications in the field of geotechnical constructions

Abstract

The global growth of Geosynthetics for the last few decades or so has been substantially enhancing at an average of 10% per annum. Within the domain of geotextile, jute geotextile (JGT), a class of natural technical textile has carved out a niche in this emerging technology. Though far behind its man-made counterpart in growth, its effectiveness in addressing a host of different geotechnical problems and more importantly its eco-congruity is gaining increasing acceptability worldwide. The major uses of JGT are in road construction – low- and medium-volume roads in particular, soil erosion control, etc. Traditional sacking quality jute-woven fabrics (both plain and twill weaves) are being used in the above-mentioned applications. But use of conventional jute sacking fabrics being not application-specific and function-oriented deserves rethinking on adoption of the conventional jute fabrics used for flexible packaging in road construction, soil erosion control as well as other geotechnical construction. It is in this context that development of potentially important JGT for strengthening rural roads as well as in river bank protection assumes significance. It was realized that such JGT should be woven whose property parameters should be functionally apt for serving the purpose. The paper outlines a structured approach to fabric engineering related to JGT in tune with different prime parameters of design concerning rural road construction and river bank protection along with optimization and standardization of the fabric by comparative analysis of the different tests results of property parameters of the developed JGT samples.