Design and Engineering of Open Weave Jute Soil Saver for Potential Application in the Field of Soil Erosion Control and Hill Slope Management

Abstract

Out of several natural agents causing extensive damages to roads, landslides can claim to be a major destroyer. There are several causes for landslides such as hazardous ground conditions, landform configuration adversities, occasionally occurring natural physical forces and anthropogenic impact on the environment. In such vulnerable situations the top soil on hill slopes get disintegrated due to intensive precipitation or shaking due to tremors and eventually flows down rapidly down the slope. The situation deserves the search for a biocover which can reduce the velocity of overland flow and entrap detached soil particles thereby controlling top soil loss. Jute Geotextile (JGT) if properly designed can fulfill the said criteria besides facilitating growth of vegetation. This paper discusses optimization of property parameters of open weave Jute Geotextile in tune with different parameters of design concerning protection of hill slope along with comparative analysis of the results of different tests on one hand and determination of tolerance limit of the prime property parameters of the developed JGT samples, on the other, which have been employed in different case studies to prove their potentiality and technoeconomic viability.