ABSTRACT: Innovation and not duplication must be the strategy of new entrants for penetration of the established

Geosynthetics market. This is illustrated by examples of value added new Geosynthetic products for soft soil
consolidation and landfill The PVD for soft soil consolidation is made of Jute and Coir and manufactured on a
specially designed machine facilitating production as per requirement of the end-user. The behavior of this drain in
kinked condition has been found to be superior to that of some commercial drains, when tested in laboratory. Being
totally biodegradable, this drain would merge with the surrounding soil after fulfilling its function. The
commercially available GCLs suffer from improper encapsulation of the clay, resulting in loss during transport and
handling. The shear resistance of such liner is also an issue of concern. New Non-leaking GCLs have been
developed employing novel methods of encapsulation for avoiding any loss and achieving high shear resistance

INTRODUCTION:

Geosynthetic materials started making their mark in the International

market in the 80s. For a while its use was mainly restricted to American
and European continents along with Japan from Asia.
Accordingly the major areas of Geosynthetic application in our country can be listed as

Ground improvements
Roads
Landfills and barriers
Erosion control, and
Reinforced soil walls

Indian manufacturers of man made synthetic materials have evinced

interest in the growing Geosynthetics market and attempted from time to
time to get a toehold. However these manufacturers have been
competing in isolation with the MNCs.Natural fibres such as Jute and Coir have
also been found suitable in some Geosynthetic applications. Their usefulness in
certain erosion control applications is well established internationally.As our
country has abundant supply of these materials, it would make economic
sense if proper Geotextiles were developed from these materials through
scientific studies and their widespread use promoted. The ecofriendliness
of these materials is undoubtedly a strength that can be exploited while
marketing, but the durability of the products is also a concern and needs
to be addressed satisfactorily.During the course of this paper an attempt
would be made to illustrate the underlining philosophy of innovation in
designing Geosynthetic products which make them quite novel and
therefore very different from their counterparts offered by the MNCs
2 BRECODRAIN the PVD

In the last few decades there has been a growing demand for construction on sites underlain by thick strata of soft
cohesive soils. In such circumstances, a method of foundation improvement is generally required to prevent bearing
capacity failures and / or to avoid excessive total and differential settlements. These goals can be achieved by pre-
loading the site, frequently in combination with the installation of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD), to reduce the
time required for foundation stabilization. The main aim of the application of vertical drains is to accelerate the
consolidation time by shortening the drainage path.

2.1 The structure of commercial PVDs

A PVD is generally made of two components, namely the sheath and the core. The
sheath is a non-woven filter fabric used to prevent the entry of the soil particles and
permit only water into the drain. The core is made in different profiles and helps in
transporting water vertically through the drain. The core and the sheath are either
joined together usually at the edges by thermal bonding or the core is inserted
separately by folding the sheath over it and subjecting the latter to ultrasonic
welding. The entire PVD is approximately 100 mm wide and 4-6 mm thick and
comes in rolls up to 300 m in length. The modern commercial PVDs differ from each
other with respect to the method of manufacture, materials used and the
geometrical shapes

To ensure ecofriendliness of the drain materials, biodegradable natural fibers like

jute and coir have recently been used in the manufacture of PVDs. One such drain
made of natural fibers, called FIBREDRAIN, is made of double layered jute Hessian
cloth, acting as filter, surrounding 4 coir yarns transporting water and held together
by 3 longitudinal stitches

2 The structure and performance of BRECODRAIN

All commercially available PVDs require various kinds of machines and techniques
for production of the drain. The braiding technique can however be employed to
produce drains on a single machine in one single operation Indeed the essence of
innovation here lies in the choice of the process.

Various tests were carried out on PVDs to assess their performance. These tests
include dimensional and tensile properties, pore size distribution and permeability
of the sleeves, discharge capacity and performance of the drain as well as the
durability of the materials employed. The Brecodrain samples with 4 yarns in the
strand of the braided sheath were selected for the performance tests. To compare
these drains, two other commercial drains, namely a synthetic (S) drain & the
FIBREDRAIN were chosen and their properties evaluated simultaneously. The
physical properties of these drains are listed in theTable1.

Table 1 Physical properties of the drains used for testing.

Physical properties BRECODRAIN FIBREDRAN S drain
(Range of values)
Sheath material Jute Jute Polyester

Sheath structure 2/2 regular braid Plain woven Non woven

Core material Coir Coir Polyester

3 D filament

Thickness at 2 kPa (mm) 6.73 to 15.54 11.63 5.1

Width (mm) 98 to 102 92 96

Linear weight (g/m) 177 to 350 232 80

The pore size, permeability and discharge capacity of BRECODRAIN depends on

the type and number of yarns in the sheath and the core as also on the braiding
angle. For instance O95 value of 210 microns and permeability of 0.03 mm/s at 100
kPa could be achieved which compare favorably with those of synthetic drain,
namely 140 microns and 0.01 mm/s respectively, As regards discharge capacity, the
braided drains produced out of jute and coir yarns perform better in the kinked
condition than the commercial drains and its discharge capacity is less affected with
increase in percentage of kinking compared to other commercial drains. This is
illustrated in Fig. 2. The values in the region A to B show the discharge capacity of
the specimens in straight condition as discussed above However, the discharge
capacity of S-drain remained unchanged. This is because, the natural drain
specimens undergo a recovery in the cross-sectional area of the specimen caused
by the Subsequently, at point B, a 10% kink was applied on the specimens and the
discharge was measured. The results showed a drop in discharge values of all the
drains with S-drain resulting in maximum drop in discharge of 5.17% while the
sample I a type of BRECODRAIN showed a drop of only 0.7%. At the point C a
similar rise and drop in discharge values was observed again due to release in
pressure and additional kinking of 10% respectively At the point D, a further 35%
drop for the S-drain was observed due to kinking by 30% as against a maximum of
5.35% for the other drain specimens.

Fig.2 : Dis charge capacity of Drains

90

80

70

Disch a rg e (m l/s) 60
N-d rain S-drain Sample F1 Samp le I

50

40

30

Pressu re (k Pa )

Fig. 2: Discharge Capacity of drains

 In addition to being technically as efficient as the synthetic imported ones and environmentally more ecofriendly,
the BRECODRAIN should be equally cost effective, as the raw material cost would vary between Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 per
meter.

3 THE NON-LEAKING GCL

Public awareness of environmental issues has increased greatly in recent years and
the growing body of environmental regulations, even in countries like India, reflects
both the need and the desire to protect environment. With the ever-growing
generation of municipal and hazardous wastes, the risk to human health and
environment, caused by dumping/landfilling has become an important
contemporary issue. It is recognized that any water entering a landfill may percolate
through wastes containing chemical contaminants, which may in turn generate
corresponding quality of leachates. The Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL) is an elegant
alternative to the CCL. GCL is a manufactured hydraulic barrier consisting of clay
bonded to a layer or layers of Geosynthetic materials A GCL is fast and easy to
install and has the unique property of self-healing due to the swelling property of
Bentonite on wetting. Although GCL, commercially available in various forms, is fast
gaining acceptance as a replacement for CCL, it needs to be improved upon in the
following respects:

Powdery bentonite particles (< 2) easily escape through the pores of the
encasing cover/carrier Geosynthetic of the GCL
Hydrated bentonite powder in gel form does not possess sufficient shear
strength to resist sliding down slope
Fibrous entanglements through needle punching or stitch bonding does increase
the overall shear strength but these small columns in large numbers should
themselves be good conduits for leachates

3.1 The Low shear Non-leaking GCL

 Fig. 3: Sectional view of non-leaking GCL

The crucial issue of encasement of the bentonite powder between the cover and
carrier fabrics in such a manner that the powder does not leak was solved in the
manner shown in Fig. 3. This figure shows the sectional view of the GCL. Between
the single layered nonwoven cover fabric and the double layered laminated carrier
fabric the bentonite powder is carried in a matrix of water-soluble film packets.
These packets were prepared from an aqueous solution of Polyvinyl Alcohol.

3.2 The high shear Non-leaking GCL

Fig. 4: Principle of bentonite encapsulation

Increasing the shear strength of the GCL was achieved by encasing the bentonite
powder in a specially prepared porous corrugated plastic sheet such as Acrylonitrile
Butadiene Styrene (ABS), as shown in Fig. 4. The surface of this porous sheet was
layered by a PVA film of 0.2 mm thickness. Subsequently, alternate corrugations
were filled up with the bentonite powder and the open top was covered by another
PVA film.

3.3 Tests for functional efficacy of the Non-leaking GCL

A simple test was carried out for testing the functional efficacy of the new GCLs,
thereby verifying soundness of its design. Samples of 1 inch 2 of the low shear Non-
leaking GCL as well as of some commercial GCL samples were kept on an absorbent
paper, which in turn was placed on a glass tray. The tray was kept at an elevated
level in such a way that its bottom was easily visible. Distilled water colored by a
non-reactive dye was allowed to drip slowly from burettes on the GCLs, crudely
simulating the flow of leachates at a rate equal to ten times the annual rainfall of
Delhi, which is approx. 120 mm. For each sample one burette was arranged.

It was found that the filter paper below the Non-leaking GCL exhibited coloration after nine days whereas one day
less was required by the commercial GCLs. Hence it was concluded that the nature of flow of liquid through the
various barriers of fabrics, PVA layers and the bentonite layer of the Non-leaking GCL was quite similar to those of
the other commercial GCL samples.

4 CONCLUSIONS
The two products namely the BRECODRAIN and the Non-leaking GCL are meant for two diverse end-use
applications. Although commercial products catering to these end-uses are manufactured by a number of
international houses, the products described here enjoy technical advantages in certain respects. The simple but
versatile manufacturing process of BRECODRAIN from natural raw materials abundantly available in India as also
its comparable drainage capacity, especially in kinked condition, are its positive features. Similarly the non-leaking
nature of the developed GCL along with the required shear resistance clearly underscores its superiority over the
commercially available ones. These products can moreover be produced from materials locally available, using
technologies, which can be mastered even by small-scale entrepreneurs. The development of these products has
evidently reached a stage where field trials are required for fine-tuning and up scaling.

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Lee S L, Karunaratne G P, Ramaswamy S D, Aziz M A & Dasgupta, N C (1994)
Natural Geosynthetic drain for soil improvement, Geotextiles and
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