Performance and Creep Characteristics of Synthetic Geogrids Following Hot Dry Climate.

Document Type : Research Studies

Authors

Faculty of Technological Studies, Kuwait.

Abstract

This paper investigates the behaviour of geogrids (as geotextile related .  materials) at exposure, storage and burial in soil in a hot dry climate.  Kuwait was chosen as it experiences a wide range of annual temperature  throughout the year, with air temperature rising to 45°C in summer and  dropping to 0 OC in winter. It also has an extremely high UV radiation  level with long hours of uninterrupted sunshine on most of the days of  the years. Two geogrids presently used for reinforcement and soil  retainning wall applications in Kuwait, were fully exposed, stored out of  sunlight and buried in soil at the depth of 0.5 m and 1.5 m. The two  geogrids were an high density polyethelen (HDPE) uniaxial grid and a  polypropylene(PP) biaxial grid.  
The samples o.f the material provided by the manufacturers were tested  on delivery, then after sustaining exposure. storage and burial in soil for  3, 6 and 1 2 months. The tests carried were constant rate tensile test  and wide width sustained load (creep) test with a loading period up to  1,000 hours. These results revealed some remarkably different responses  from the two products.  

Main Subjects