1

USE OF
GEOSYNTHETICS
IN PAVEMENT
SUBMITTED
BY,
GUIDED BY,
DESIGN
ARUN K RAJ
JESNA N M
S7C
Assistant Professor

Ms.

INTRODUCTION
Indian road network is the 2nd largest road
network in the world(3.3 million km length)
Accounts for Indias
85 % of passenger traffic
65 % of total freight
Narrow & congested highways with poor
surface quality
Annual loss of 3 to 6 billion US$
Use of geosynthetics can reduce these
shortcomings to a great extend.
The development of geosynthetics in the
past three decades has provided the
strategies for enhancing the overall
performance of the paved roadways.
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FLEXIBLE
PAVEMENT
A road or runway
made of bituminous
material which has little tensile strength and
is therefore flexible
4 layers
Surface Course generally made of
asphalt concrete
Base Course -0.2 m to 0.3 m of coarse
aggregate
Sub base Course - lower quality crushed
4
aggregate

What are Geo Geo-syntheticssynthetics?

are synthetic products, where at least one of

the components is made from a synthetic or natural polymer, in the

form of a sheet, a strip or a three dimensional structure, nonwoven, knitted, or woven which is used in contact with soil/rock
and/or other materials in geotechnical and civil engineering
applications .
These include:
Planar structures (geomembranes, geotextiles, geosynthetic
barriers, geonets, geogrids, geostrips, geospacers and
geomats, etc.)
Three-dimensional structures (geocells, geofoams,
gabions and concrete filled mattresses).
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PRODUCTS OF
GEOSYNTHETICS

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.

IMPORTANCE OF
Durable & long
lasting
GEOSYNTHETICS

Cost of geo-synthetics applied usually between 3 to 5 per cent

of the total cost of projects.
Savings of 30 per cent in total project costs have been reported.
Minimizes the regular repair and maintenance costs directly.
Prevent accidents, increase efficiency of structures, minimize
pollution and leads to efficient use of natural resources.
Lifetime of geosynthetics is extremely long, generally over 100
years.
Geosynthetics assist the environment by acting as a containing
barrier for toxic materials.
Geo-techs are difficult or impossible to degrade .
They are inert materials .
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GEO-SYNTHETICS IN INDIA
In India use of geo-synthetics is less than 1.5%
of global consumption.
Reasons for poor use are under;
a) Lack of desired legislation
b) Lack of required standards on geosynthetic products as well as
on design, construction and installation guidelines
c) Lack of awareness of standards and guidelines by the site
engineers / field staff
d) Lack of national certifying and accreditation agencies for
geosynthetics in the country
e) Incompleteness of existing standards and guidelines

GEOSYNTHETICS IN
The primary PAVEMENTS
purpose of incorporating the use of
geosynthetics in the pavement design process is

to reduce reflective cracking

Geosynthetics resist moisture intrusion into the
underlying
pavement
structure,
stabilize
roadways and their edges.
It improve road quality, particularly when roads
were built on unstable soil.

Cracks in pavements
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FUNCTIONS
1) SEPARATION
2) FILTRATION
3) DRAINAGE
4) REINFORCEMENT
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SEPARAT
Geosynthetics is sandwiched between
ION
aggregate base course and subgrade material
It prevents mixing of the two layers,
aggregate loss and pumping.

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FILTRATI
Geosynthetic acts as a filter by preventing
ONout while allowing the
material from washing
water to flow through it.
Allowing an increase in subgrade strength

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DRAINAGE
Drainage applications means allowing
FUNCTION
lateral drainage within its plane.
Requirements for drainage are soil
retention, adequate flow capacity and longterm soil-to-geotextile flow equilibrium &
minimum clogging of the pore spaces.

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REINFORCEMENT FUNCTION
The improved performance of the pavement
due to geosynthetic reinforcement has been
attributed to three mechanisms
1) Lateral restraint
2) Increased bearing capacity
3) Tensioned membrane effect

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LATERAL
RESTRAINT
o Develops
through interfacial

friction between
the geosynthetic and the aggregate.
o A geotextile with good frictional capabilities
can provide tensile resistance to lateral
movement.
o When an aggregate layer is subjected to
traffic loading, the aggregate tends to move
laterally unless it is restrained by the subgrade
or geosynthetic reinforcement.

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INCREASED BEARING
CAPACITY
It is done by by forcing the potential
bearing surface failure plane to develop at
alternate higher shear strength surface
This new alternate plane provides a higher
bearing capacity.

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MEMBRANE
SUPPORT
This function
acts by supporting

the

wheel loads.
In this case, the reinforcement provides a
vertical reaction component to the applied
wheel load.
This tensioned membrane effect is induced
by vertical deformations, leading to a concave
shape in the geosynthetic.
The tension developed in the geosynthetic
contributes to support the wheel load and
reduces the vertical stress on the subgrade.

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Installing geosynthetic over soft sub

grade soil

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Geosynthetic covered by base

course material

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Curing the geosynthetic

pavement

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CONCLUSIONS
1. Geosynthetics reinforce the structural section
through: lateral restraint ,tensile membrane
support & increased bearing capacity.
2. The addition of a geosynthetic to a structural
section increases the friction between the
aggregate layer and the geosynthetic.
3. The filtration-drainage function is vital to the
performance of geosynthetics in road
construction as any pore water pressure
developed in the subgrade must be dissipated.
4. As a developing country, India should take
maximum utilization of geo-synthetics as they
bring economy & efficiency to projects.
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REFRENCES
1. Geosynthetics in pavements: North American
contributions by Zornberg, J.G. & Gupta, R. The
University of Texas at Austin, USA
2. Fannin, R.J., O. Sigurdsson (1996) Field observations
on stabilization of unpaved roads with geosynthetics.
ASCE Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 122 (7),
544553
3. Abusaid, A.H. 2006. Development of a method to
test geogrid reinforcement of base materials in
flexible pavements. M.S. Thesis, Department of Civil
Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.
4. Barksdale, R.D., Brown, S.F. and Chan, F. 1989.
Potential benefits of geosynthetics in flexible
pavement system. National Cooperative Highway
Research Program, Report No. 315, Transportation
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Research
Board,
Nation
Research
Council,

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