Effect of water contamination on transmissivity behaviour of nonwoven geotextile

Abstract

Nonwoven geotextiles are one of the most widely used geosynthetic materials in drainage and filtration in geotechnical engineering works and applications. In the present study, drainage property of geotextile fabric with three levels of water contamination (20, 40, and 60 gpl) and with clean water has been studied with the variation of transverse loads (1, 3, 5, and 7 kPa) and fabric mass density (300, 600, and 900 g/m2). Transmissivity of geotextile is found to be lower at higher level of water contamination. The effect of water contamination concentration is higher for fabric with higher mass density. However, the effect of contamination on geotextile material is lower at higher transverse load. The effect of transverse load on transmissivity of geotextile is higher for 300 g/m2 as compared to 600 and 900 g/m2. Although the reduction in transmissivity of fabric with higher mass density (900 g/m2) is higher, still the fabric exhibits better transmissivity behaviour as compared to 300 and 600 g/m2.