Durability of a polypropylene woven geotextile under climatic and chemical agents

Abstract

The durability of geosynthetics against degradation agents is a relevant issue to be considered for the analysis of their life cycle and relevance to their application. Sunlight, high temperatures, oxygen, environments with acidic or alkaline pH and the presence of water are some of main degradation agents of polymeric materials. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the durability of a polypropylene woven geotextile against some climatic and chemical degradation agents that have been simulated in the laboratory, as well as to analyze the influence of the sum of these agents on the geotextile durability. Reduction factors were also defined for both weathering and chemical degradation, acting both in isolation and as the sum of degradation agents. The results showed that geotextile degradation occurs by both climatic and chemical agents and that the degradation increases with the sum of degradation agents. Furthermore, different results were obtained for the reduction factors with respect to particular conditions of degradation, which are important in defining reduction factors for the specification of geosynthetics based on conditions as similar as possible to that of the site and of the project requests. This study contributes to a better understanding of geotextile durability, which is a subject of considerable relevance in the geotechnical, environmental and scientific fields.