Peel and Shear Test Comparison and Geosynthetic Clay Liner Shear Strength Correlation

Abstract

Multi-component geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are a new variation of GCLs and are fast growing in the current sealing applications. During the manufacturing process the “classic” geosynthetic clay liners are combined with either an attached film, coating, or membrane that can decrease the hydraulic conductivity of the product but can also add other features. ASTM D 6496 and EN ISO test methods give some guidance for testing the peel strength of GCLs. However, in the past multi-component GCLs were not tested according to ASTM or EN ISO test methods. To be able to suggest modifications on these test methods it is necessary to investigate the methods with current multi-component GCLs. Therefore this paper will present results on peel and shear data under varying conditions. Findings in how to separate the coating or adhered film and how they can be used in current test apparatus will be discussed. In the past, correlation data between shear and peel were published and will be updated with multi-component GCLs. The results of peel and internal shear testing will be evaluated, compared, and presented in this paper. Furthermore external shear test with different multi-component geosynthetic clay liners against different soil types will be presented and discussed in this paper. This basic work will be further discussed with ASTM for the development of a Standard test method for peel testing for multi-component geosynthetic clay liners.