What are the main applications of geotextiles

What are the main applications of geotextiles?

✅ Five basic functions

1. Separation

Separate soft soil, crushed stone and sand layers, prevent intermixing of coarse and fine materials. Avoid crushed stone piercing soft soil and fine soil pumping to clog the bedding layer. Widely used in roadbeds, storage yards and railway tracks.

2. Filtration

Permit water passage while retaining soil particles, prevent piping and soil erosion. Essential for dams, drainage ditches and slope protection.

3. Drainage

Form planar water-conducting channels to discharge pore water inside soil and dissipate pore water pressure, reducing risks of landslides and settlement.

4. Reinforcement

Distribute loads and improve the overall strength of soil. Woven geotextiles deliver better reinforcement performance, suitable for soft soil foundations, reinforced retaining walls and land reclamation projects.

5. Protection

Shield HDPE geomembranes from puncture by crushed stones. Mitigate water flow erosion and stress concentration, protecting slopes and anti-seepage liners.

✅ Engineering applications by field (directly usable for case writing)

1. Transportation works (highways, high-speed railways, airports, factory roads)

Separation at the bottom of roadbeds and drainage for soft foundations to prevent frost boiling and differential settlement

Separation between old and new pavements to help control reflective cracking

Bedding layers for airport runways, parking lots and heavy-load mine roads

2. Hydraulic & river projects (dikes, river channels, artificial lakes, cofferdams)

Filter layers for river and lake embankment slope protection, anti-erosion and anti-piping

Support for canal seepage control, cofferdams and flood emergency works

Internal drainage of reservoir dams

3. Environmental solid waste projects (landfills, sewage ponds, tailings ponds)

Protective layers above and below HDPE geomembranes (staple fiber geotextiles are the mainstream choice)

Filtration for leachate collection layers and drainage filtration of tailings dams

Support for anti-seepage systems in hazardous waste storage yards

4. Slope & municipal works (reinforced retaining walls, mountain remediation, greening)

Municipal reinforced soil retaining walls and layered slope reinforcement

Slope greening and ecological revetment for soil retention and water permeability

Drainage for side walls of underground garages and tunnels

5. Ports & land reclamation (port storage yards, hydraulic reclamation)

Separation and drainage consolidation for marine soft soil yards

Bedding layers for breakwaters and reclamation works to isolate silt from crushed stone layers