The Behaviour of Geotextiles under Arid Weather Conditions Kuwait as a Case of Study.

Document Type : Research Studies

Authors

1 Professor of Faculty of Technological Studies.,Paaet., Kuwait.

2 Faculty of Technological Studies., Paaet, Kuwait.

Abstract

This paper investigates the behaviour of geotextiles 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 55°C in summer and dropping to 0°C 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 geotextiles presently used for separation and reinforcement applications, were fully exposed, stored out of sunlight and buried in soil at the depth of 0.5 m and 1.5 m. The geotextile were woven polypropiene product and non woven polyester/polyproplene needle punched product. 
The samples of the material provided by the manufacturers were tested on delivery, then after sustaining exposure, storage and burial in soil for 3, 6 and 12 months. The tests carried out include six index tests: mass per unit area, thickness, cone drop, tear and wide width tensile test. Results are described, revealing some remarkably different responses from the two products, ranging from total degradation to no measured effects.

Main Subjects