Geotextile: Past, Present

and Future in Pakistan.

Eng. Hafsa Riaz ,Assistant Professor,
Department of Fabric Manufacturing,
National Textile University, Sheikhupura
Road, Faisalabad
37610,Pakistan,Email:hrntu@hotmail.com
 OUTLINE
• INTRODUCTION
• WHAT IS GEOTEXTILE ?
• IMPLICATED EXAMPLES AS WORLDWIDE
• AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILES ARE USED IN PAKISTAN
• FUNCTIONS OF GEOTEXTILES
• RAW MATERIAL
• TYPES OF GEOTEXTILE
• PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILES
• MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY
• RECOMMENDATIONS

7NSOHSE 2
 INTRODUCTION

• Textiles have been used for thousands of years .

• Textiles were used in roadway construction in
the days of the Pharaohs to stabilize roadways
and their edges .
• Textile are not only clothing for human body, but
also for our motherland in order to protect her.
• Geotextiles has proven to be among the most
versatile and cost-effective ground modification
materials.
• Babylonians
constructed Ziggurat
in Dur-Kurigatz (
present Agar –Quf)
3000years ago used
natural fiber for
reinforcement
• The Great Wall of
China , completed
circa 200 BC, used
tamarisk branches
with mixture of clay
for reinforcement .
 GEOTEXTILE

According to the definition of ASTM

“A permeable geosynthetic comprised solely
of textiles. Geotextiles are used with
foundation, soil, rock, earth, or any other
geotechnical engineering-related material
as an integral part of human-made project,
structure, or system."
 WORLD CONSUMPTION OF
GEOTEXTILES

Source: Geosynthetics – David Cook (2003), Freedonia Group (2009)

 CONSUMPTION –WISE FORECAST
Automobile Textile
Sports Textile 3.70% 3.40%
Packing Textile Clothing Textile
3.80% 3.20%
Agricultural Textiles Home Textile 2.70%
3.90%

Protective Textile Geotextile 5.30%

4.00%
Industrial Textile Building Textile
4.40% Medical Textile 5.00%
4.30%
Source: DRA (2005-2010)
The world demand for Geo- Textiles is
projected at about 4715 million square
meters by 2014 mostly from China and
other East Asian countries.

Asia and other developing regions of the

world are much more likely to see a
sustained programme of infrastructure
projects over the next decade and beyond.
 IMPLICATED EXAMPLES
WORLDWIDE
 PalmJumeirah Island,
Dubai
• Beijing Olympics
Architecture
• Levees in New
Orleans, Hurricane
Katrina
AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILES ARE
USED IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan Motorway M-1 (Islamabad-
Peshawar) Geotextiles are laid at 7th - 8th Km
portion of road Peshawar Toll Plaza.
 Karakorum highway. At some places where
soil remains under wet conditions or land is
too soft.
Merani dam Baluchistan
Sabakzai dam project Baluchistan
 AREAS WHERE GEOTEXTILE
CAN BE USED IN PAKISTAN
• For constructing of roads where heavy traffic is more
common Geotextiles is an added advantage The use of
Geo-Textiles can increase the road life by 10 to 15 years
and reduce cost.
• For lining of canals and dams to prevents water leakage
by using Geo-Membrane clay liners. Seepage of water
from canals is a major problem and up to 20% water is
reported as lost in Pakistan.
• Floating covers for water reservoirs in Pakistan to
prevent evaporation of water.
• Water transport utilizing Geo-Membranes.
• Improvement in the use of water in agriculture in
Pakistan involving the use of Geo-Membranes.
 FUNCTIONS OF GEOTEXTILES

• Seperation
• Filtration
• Drainage
• Reinforcements
 RAW MATERIAL

• Natural fibers which are commonly used

are jute, flax, coconut matting, cotton and
straw.
• Geotextiles are made from polypropylene,
polyester, polyethylene, polyamide (nylon),
polyvinylidene chloride, and fiberglass.
• Polypropylene and polyester are mostly
used .
 TYPES OF GEOTEXTILE

• Woven

• Non-woven

• Knitted
 PROPERTIES OF GEOTEXTILES

The three main properties which are

required and specified for geo textile are;

Mechanical property
Filtration ability
Chemical resistance
 SPECIFICATIONS
• Type: Woven geo textile
• Loom type: Narrow loom
• Raw material: Polypropylene
• Weave design: Plain 1/1
• Weft: Tape yarn of polypropylene is used
• Warp: Multi filament polypropylene yarn is used.
• Warp: 207 Tex
• Weft: 129.78 Tex
• Ends/inch: 17
• Picks/inch: 13
NARROW LOOM , NTU
SAMPLE OF GEOTEXTILE
 RECOMMENDATIONS

• Geo textile is a new field, which appears with in the short span of
time very rapidly in the world. Main obstacle to the
growth of geo textiles in Pakistan :
 is the level of human expertise
 growth of technical textile is the absence of legislative
encouragements on part of the government.
If government of Pakistan takes interest, we can use our scientific
expertise in the field of geo textile, and also save our foreign
exchange and also reduce their cost, because that field is a future
demand in recent years.
– Support of government of Pakistan is required to develop the
base for the technical textile education.
– Government level incentives should be announced to encourage
the industries for the production of technical textiles and the end
users should be encouraged for geo synthetics uses.
– Human resource development for the specific technical textiles
 RECOMMENDATIONS

– Experimental work should be encouraged for the development of

technical textiles.
– Continuous awareness program should be conducted for all the
stake holders.
– It should be added as a major course among the textile
universities course line.
– Research and advisory centers should be established all over
the country.
– Testing and standardization should be developed at the centers
to make the standards developed for the technical textiles
 What is India doing?
• Several positive schemes in 11th five year
plan (2007 –2012) to support the growth of
nonwoven and technical textile industry.
• National Mission for Technical Textiles
launched in 2007
– a budget of US$ 170 million for the next five
year period.
• Technical textile industry growth target is
12-15 billion dollars by 2012.
• Indian Government has planned to invest in 20
centers of excellence
 References
• A R Horrocks and S C Anad, eds 2000,Handbook of Technical Textiles,Woodhead Publishing
Ltd.
• ASTM (1994), Annual Books of ASTM Standards, American Society Testing andMaterials,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Volume 4.08 (1), Soil and Rock. Volume 4.08 (2)
• David Rigby Associates (2009) Retrived January 20,2009,from www.davidrigby-associates.com
• Engineering use of geotextiles, 20 July 1995ARMY TM 5-818-8Air force AFJMAN 32-1030
Technical manual . WASHINGTON, DC, 20 July 1995.
• GS.Hwang,C.K.Lu,M.F.Lin,B.L.Hwu and W.H.Hsing, Text.Res.J
• .69(1999)pp.565-569.
• M.Pritchard, 1999,Vegetable fiber geotextiles,Phd dissertation .University of Bolton .UK
• K.R.Lekha,Geotex,Geomembrane22(2004) pp.399-413
• Koerner , R. M., 1993Designing with Geosynthetics, Third edition, Prentice Hall.
• P R Rankilor 28 May-1st June 1977,Designing with Terram, a Technical design manual published
by ICI fibers Terramdivision,
• PR Rankilor, 1990“The fundamentals definition and classification of warp knitted DSF geotextiles
for civil engineering and geotechnical end uses”International geotextiles society’s 4 th
international conference on Geotextiles,Geomembrane and related products, ,pp819-823.
• R M Koerner and J P Welsh 1980,Construction and Geotechnical Engineering using Synthetic
fabrics ,John Wiley & Sons ,New York .
• Y.Wang,Journal of Ind. Text.30(2001)pp.53-64
• Van Zanten, R. V. (1986). Geotextiles and Geomembranes in Civil Engineering, A. A. Balkema
Publ., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 685 pgs
.
 Acknowledgement

• The author acknowledge Malik Asad

Awan, Sheharyar Hafeez, Rana
Muhammad Touseef Anwar and staff of
National Textile University .
 CLEANER
PRODUCTION
Classification of Geosynthetics
• The government should start by giving research incentives to textile
industries and end users for the production and use of geo textiles, and
eventually as the industry progress there is also a possibility of making the
use of geo synthetics mandatory. Industrialists in Pakistan might resist the
change from conventional products to this innovative market. There is
an initial risk involved, but the idea is to create awareness that
opportunity cost is still very high.
• The coating materials mainly used in the geo synthetics we are all
imported from outsides from Pakistan. If government of Pakistan
takes interest, we can use our scientific expertise in the field of geo
textile, and also save our foreign exchange and also reduced their
cost, because that field is a future demand in recent years.