Modeling the In-Plane Permeability of Woven Geotextiles1

Abstract

The in-plane permeability or transmissivity of a geotextile becomes an important property when it is used in applications involving cohesive soils (clays). Because cohesive soils are relatively impermeable, the geotextile is mainly responsible for drain ing the water from the soil structure, thus releasing the pore water pressures. When developing a woven geotextile for reinforcing cohesive soil structures, there is a need to predict transmissivity in addition to tensile properties. Existing models for predicting flow through porous media are not sufficiently accurate to predict a relatively small flow through woven fabrics. This paper presents a modeling approach, taking into consideration the intra- and interyarn geometry for any weave.