Assessing the photo-degradation of geosynthetics by outdoor exposure and laboratory weatherometer

Abstract

The current accelerated weathering methods, which include two laboratory weatherometers and one outdoor method, are described together with the natural outdoor exposure method. The correlation between various accelerated methods and the natural outdoor method on geosynthetics was illustrated based on available published data. The data show that the Xenon Arc exhibited a higher degradation rate than the UV-fluorescent weatherometer. However, such acceleration may be mainly contributed by the elevated incubation temperature rather than the irradiance. In order to perform proper comparison between different incubation environments (either for different weatherometers or weatherometer and natural outdoor method) both the temperature and radiant energy must be recorded and incorporated in the analysis. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.