Which one is better for soft foundation treatment: woven geotextile or non-woven geotextile?

Which one is better for soft foundation treatment: woven geotextile or non-woven geotextile?

Comparison

✅ Non-woven geotextile (staple fiber / filament non-woven) — more widely used in soft foundation

Advantages:

- Good filtration and water permeability to discharge pore water from soft soil and accelerate consolidation

- Separation function to prevent mixing of soft soil and granular fill

- High elongation to adapt to uneven deformation of soft foundation

Application: drainage, filtration and separation for subgrade of highways and municipal projects

Limitations:

Lower tensile strength than woven geotextile at the same weight, limited reinforcement capacity under heavy load

✅ Woven geotextile

Advantages:

- High tensile strength and modulus with good reinforcement effect

- Good puncture resistance, suitable for projects with high load and strong reinforcement requirement

Limitations:

Poor uniformity of pore structure, average filtration performance and risk of clogging, weak drainage capacity

Application: soft foundation reinforcement for high-tension reinforcement, cofferdams, seawalls and heavy-load storage yards

Selection guidance

1. If filtration, drainage and separation are the main requirements (most highway soft foundation projects) → non-woven geotextile is preferred

2. If high tensile reinforcement is required and drainage is not the priority → woven geotextile is recommended