27-07-2016

GEOSYNTHETICS
IN ROADS

An Overview
Dr G. Venkatappa Rao

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Separation

What is separation?
 Separation prevents the mixing of two different soils while allowing free
water flow.

No geotextile With
Geotextile

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Mechanism of Separation
 Appropriate pore size
for geosynthetic

 Advantages of
interlock

 Construction
expedient or long term
effect

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Early Pavement Design curves with

Geotextiles

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Aggregate Loss due to weak

subgrades

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Separation Geotextile Being Laid and

Covered

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Factors Affecting Designs

Important Site Specific Factors

 Sub-grade/Foundation Soil Size and

Grading
 Sub-grade/Foundation Soil Strength
 Fill Particle Size and Grading
 Thickness of the Fill Layer
 Construction and Operational Loading

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Composite Triaxial Specimen

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Triaxial Test Results at 100 kPa

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Triaxial Test Results at 100 kPa

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Triaxial Test Results of Composite

Specimens with Geotextile(NW)

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Results of repetitive Loading with

Non-woven Geotextile

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Results of Repetitive Loading

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Model ready for Test (Series D)

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Model Pavement Test Results

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Repetetive Load Test Results

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Repetitive Load Test Results

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Model at end of Repetitive Loading

with Geotextile

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View at end of Repetitive Loading

with Geogrid

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Problem :
impossible access …

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Lateral Restraint

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Bearing Capacity Increase

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Membrane Tension Support

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AASHTO M288 Spec

 covers common GT uses
 crafted by an experimental “unbiased”
committee
 accepted by many DOT’s
 first part is installation survivability
 second part focuses on application

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AASHTO M288-00 (updated from 1996) Geotextile Installation

“Survivability” Requirements

Geotextile Classification
Test Class 1 (severe) Class 2 (typical) Class 3 (moderate)
Methods Units
woven nonwoven woven nonwoven woven nonwoven
Grab ASTM N 1400 900 1100 700 800 500
strength D4632
Sewn seam ASTM N 1200 810 990 630 720 450
strength D4632
Tear ASTM N 500 350 400 250 300 180
strength D4533
Puncture ASTM N 500 350 400 250 300 180
strength D4833

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AASHTO M288 Subsurface

“Filtration” Geotextile Requirements

Requirements
Test Percent In Situ Soil Passing 0.075 mm
Methods Units
< 15 15 to 50 > 50
Geotextile Class Class 2
Permittivity ASTM D4491 s-1 0.5 0.2 0.1
Apparent opening size ASTM D4751 mm 0.43 0.25 0.22
max. avg. roll max. avg. max. avg. roll
value roll value value
Ultraviolet stability ASTM D4355 % 50% after 500 hr. of exposure
(retained strength)

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AASHTO M288 “Separation” Geotextile

Property Requirements

Test Methods Units Requirements

Geotextile Class Class 2
Permittivity ASTM D4491 s-1 0.02
Apparent opening size ASTM D4751 mm 0.60 max. avg. roll value
Ultraviolet stability ASTM D4355 % 50% after 500 hr. of exposure
(retained strength)

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AASHTO M288 “Stabilization”

Geotextile Property Requirements

Test Methods Units Requirements

Geotextile Class Class 1
Permittivity ASTM D4491 s-1 0.05
Apparent opening size ASTM D4751 mm 0.43 max. avg. roll value
Ultraviolet stability ASTM D4355 % 50% after 500 hr. of
(retained strength) exposure

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AASHTO M288 Permanent “Erosion Control”

Geotextile Requirements

Requirements
Test Percent In Situ Soil Passing 0.075 mm
Methods Units
< 15 15 to 50 > 50
Geotextile Class
woven monofilament geotextiles Class 2
all other geotextiles Class 1
Permittivity ASTM D4491 s-1 0.7 0.2 0.1
Apparent opening size ASTM D4751 mm 0.43 0.25 0.22
max. avg. max. avg. max. avg. roll
roll value roll value value
Ultraviolet stability ASTM D4355 % 50% after 500 hr. of exposure
(retained strength)

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AASHTO M288 Temporary “Silt Fence”

Property Requirements
Requirements

Supported Unsupported Silt Fence

Silt Fence

Test All Nonwoven Woven

Geotextiles Geotextile Geotextile
Methods Units

Maximum post spacing 1.2 m 1.2 m 2.0 m

Grab strength ASTM N
machine direction D4632 400 550 550
cross-machine 400 450 450
direction
Permittivity ASTM s-1 0.05 0.05 0.05
D4491

Apparent opening size ASTM mm 0.60 0.60 0.60

D4751 max. avg. max. avg. max. avg.
roll value roll value roll value
Ultraviolet stability ASTM % 70% after 500 hr. of exposure
(retained strength) D4355

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AASHTO M288 “Prevention of Reflective Cracking,” called,

“Paving Fabrics”, Property Requirements

Test Methods Units Requirements

Grab strength ASTM D4632 N 450
Ultimate elongation ASTM D4632 %  50

Mass per unit area ASTM D3776 gm/m2 140

Asphalt retention Texas DOT l/m2 product

Item #099 specific
Melting point ASTM D276 °C 150

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Example: Specify a woven and a nonwoven geotextile for a roadway

separation application with severe installation conditions
and 60% passing the #200 sieve according to M288-Spec

Property Woven GT Nonwoven GT

grab, N 1400 900

seam, N 1200 810
tear, N 500 350
puncture, N 500 350
permittivity, sec-1 0.02 0.02
AOS (max.), mm 0.60 0.60
UV ret. str., N 700 450

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The solution : rapid and easy

access to the site !

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It’s simply a matter of

mechanical interlock
Granular material
compacted over
biaxial geogrids
partially penetrates and
projects through the
apertures creating a
strong and positive
interlocking

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Problem:
difficulty in compaction

weak soil
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The solution
Proper
compaction
possible!
Biaxial
geogrid

weak soil

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Problem :
insufficient bearing capacity

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The solution
More effective
load distribution
enables heavier
loading

Biaxial
geogrid

weak soil

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1989: Full scale product testing. TRL Crowthorne:

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Typical road construction

Base Biaxial
Sub-base geogrid

weak soil
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Safe and simple installation

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Site
clearing
Over
lap

At
curves

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Placing
Geogrids

Tensioning
&
Pinning

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Dumping over
Firm ground
After
Anchoring

Atleast 15 cm
Fill for
Tracked
equipment

Dumping
D over
Soft
u ground
•End
m dumping
•*No waves
•Overlap
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C
O
M
P
A
C
T
I
O
N

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Geosynthetics in Asphalt
Pavements

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The Solutions

1 1. Asphalt overlay reinforcement

(existing pavements)
2
2. Asphalt base layer
reinforcement (new asphalt
pavements)
3 3. Sub-base reinforcement
(inadequate bearing capacity)

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Design Requirements for

Asphalt Pavements

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Typical Fatigue Cracking

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Fatigue Cracking Principles

 Crack initiation
depends on tensile
strain

 Crack propagation
depends on tensile
stress

 Interaction of asphalt
layer and foundation

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Rutting Mechanism for Asphalt

Layer
 Permanent shear
strains near surface

 High temperatures

 Heavy wheel loads

 High traffic volume

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Typical Wheel-track Rutting

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Oxford/Jewell Method
 Input parameters
 Undrained shear strength and unit weight of
subgrade
 Applied contact pressure & wheel load

 Shear strength of granular material

 Load spreading angle

 No of load applications

 Output
 Layer thickness; reinforced & unreinforced

 Tensile force in geosynthetic

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Asphalt Reinforcement
 Increase in fatigue life
 Reduction in rutting
 New construction
 Strengthening overlays
 Generally requires stiff geogrids

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Design for Fatigue Cracking

 Fatigue life
increased by
10 times
 Grid located at
bottom of layer
 Use in
mechanistic
design method

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Grid Locations for Asphalt

reinforcement

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Typical Design Chart for UK

conditions

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Typical Design Chart for

Asphalt Layer Thickness (mm)
USA : New York State

Asphalt Layer Thickness (mm) Unreinforced

400
400
1 layer
300

200
200
2 layers
100

00
0.1
0.1 11 10
10 100
100
Design Life
Design Life (msa)
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in Roads G V Rao 63

Reflection Cracking

 Locate near to
existing discontinuity
 Mechanistic design
method still evolving
 Stiff geogrid best
 Geotextile can
waterproof

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Reflection Cracking Reduction

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Parameters for Reflection Crack

Reinforcement

 Stiffness of geogrid

 Shear strength of interface

 Location and installation of geogrid

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MORTH PROJECT IIT DELHI

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Reflection Cracking
Comparisons
(Caltabiano & Brunton, 1991)
Overlay Relative Relative
Life Cost
Standard 1.0 -
Asphalt
Polymer modified 2.5 2.5
asphalt
Geotextile 5.0 1.0
Geogrid 10.0 4.0

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Benefits of AR-grids
 Long-term solutions:
proven effectiveness for over 15 years

 Basic resistance to short term (traffic,

temperature) loading

 Proven to be effective against rutting

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Tensar Glasstex
Glasstex is a
high-strength, low strain composite of
glassfibre reinforcement and
a non-woven base
asphalt layer (overlay)

Glassfibre reinforcement
= GLASSTEX
Non-Woven (SAMI)

Underlying asphalt pavement

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Types of Glasstex
Glasstex Strength Type of Application
Type
P50 50/50 normal road widening

P100 100/50 large movements in joints;

transversal cracks
Special design for special applications (frost
based heave etc.)

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Typical Problem: Road

Widening
Road widening
introduces
continuous stress at
the connection
between old and new
asphalt:-
asphalt will crack
quickly.

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Solution With of Glasstex

Overlay
Tensar Glasstex
bitumen emulsion layer

ROAD WIDENING

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Installation of Glasstex

27 July 2016
Direct installation on emulsion layer
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Benefits of Glasstex
 High strength solution for long term loading
on asphalt layer
 Reinforcement SAMI construction; solutions
for shorter term effectiveness
 Very quick installation techniques possible
 Reinforcement of thin overlays possible

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How to Select Correct Type of

Reinforcement
 Determine primary and secondary loads

Cyclic loading
(traffic, temperature)

static loading
(sub-base construction)

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Example of Guide to Select the

Proper Reinforcement Solution

AR-1 / ARG Glasstex

fatigue ++ --
reflective
++ 0
cracking
rutting ++ -
road widening
- ++

Frost heave -- ++
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Additional Benefits
 Simple installation guidelines available
 Both Tensar AR and Tensar Glasstex are
resistant to high asphalt installation temperatures
 Both can be removed using modern equipment
and can be recycled

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Summarising Benefits of
Tensar Asphalt Reinforcement
1. Cost-effective solutions to reduce life-cycle
cost of asphalt pavements
2. High quality products
3. Specially developed characteristics
4. Almost 20 years experience
5. Well proven in service for many years
6. Extensive knowledge and support

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References
 Venkatappa Rao, G., (1996), “IGS Lecture 1995:
Geosynthetics in the Indian Environment”,
Indian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, 94p
 IGS pps lecture notes

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THANK YOU

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