Geotextile Shear Strength in Soil

Soil shear strength, and with it geotextile shear strength, is a key benchmark for analysing soil bearing capacity, slope stability and the thrust acting on retaining walls. A material fails because of a critical combination of normal stress and shear stress.

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Woven Geotextile

Geotextile

According to the book Geosintetik untuk Rekayasa Jalan (Geosynthetics for Road Engineering), geotextile is one of the most widely used geosynthetic materials. Geotextiles are permeable, factory-made textile materials made from synthetics such as polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride and blends of these. All of these materials are thermoplastics. The polymers used in geotextile manufacturing, generally the geotextile fibres, are made from the following polymeric materials:

• Polyethylene (PE) (±1%).
• Polyester (PET) (±5%);
• Polyamide (PA) (nylon) (±2%);
• Polypropylene (PP) (±92%);
  Polyethylene and polypropylene are polyolefins, which
  have a density of less than 1000kg/m3
  .

The most important property of a geotextile is its tensile strength. Each type of geotextile determines its use, for example as reinforcement or separation, filtration or drainage. In terms of function, one geotextile application still used today is reinforcing structures on soft soil. As reinforcement, especially for steep or gentle embankment slopes, geotextiles are placed in the slope at certain spacings so that the slope remains stable. Geotextiles placed at the base of embankments on soft soil act as both reinforcement and separator. Geotextiles can also be used to cover poor-quality fill material. Geotextiles installed between the subgrade and the layer