Polymeric Synthetic Fabrics to Improve Stability of Ground Structure in Civil Engineering Circumstance

Abstract

Polymeric synthetic fabrics are continuous sheets of woven, nonwoven, knitted, or stitch-bonded fibers and yarns. The sheets are flexible and permeable and generally have the appearance of a fabric. Among polymeric synthetic fabrics, geosynthetics including geo-textiles have special functions of separation, filtration, drainage, reinforcement, and erosion control in civil engineering applications. Also, geosynthetics such as geotextiles and geogrids are used in asphalt pavement reinforcement. An important function of these geotextiles is as cushion layers to prevent puncture of geomembranes (by reducing point contact stresses) from stones in the adjacent soil, waste, or drainage aggregate. Geotextiles, however, are made from a combination of two or more polymeric synthetic fabrics. In this chapter, geotextiles as polymeric synthetic fabrics are introduced not only for improvement but also maintaining stability of ground structure in civil engineering circumstance with their related technologies.