When working on sites outdoors to any extent, there will always be the sun, variation in temperature, rain, wind and other natural conditions to contend with.
Whether it’s a project that builds a road, a landfill, drainage system, retaining wall, railway, erosion control applications, the length of time the material lasts is going to be affected.
Of all the materials used on civil engineering projects, geotextile fabric plays a significant role. However, not all geotextiles are made to withstand the elements with strength and durability.
This is where the UV resistant geotextile comes in, and its role in construction projects outdoors.
A geotextile that weakens from too much exposure to the sun risks failing and causing all sorts of damage, which then costs a huge amount of money to rectify and can see the whole project failing before the first tree grows.
The concept of UV resistant geotextile can be lost on those who haven’t thought in depth about how sun exposure and the elements can have such a bad effect on something they are thinking of using to complete a major project.
There’s no harm in gaining a bit more knowledge about the advantages of UV resistant geotextile so check out these tips so you are clued-up for the next time someone puts a plan(s) from a project manager and major contractor in front of you to sign-off.
H2: What is UV Resistant Geotextile?
UV resistant geotextile is a type of geotextile fabric that is actually manufactured to withstand excessive exposure to the sun’s UV rays.Normal polypropylene and polyester fibres are known to lose some of their strength when the sunlight, day in and day out, is beating on them. After while, the power of UV rays will cause the agents to become brittle, lose its tensile strength, all the way up to breaking outright.
Manufacturers who want their geotextile to go beyond the distance will market UV resistant geotextiles, where the base fibre is augmented with UV stabilizers during the production, so the base fibre will stay strong and hold its mechanical properties through ridiculous days in the sun. They will offer a geotextile product that is, beside usual base materials:
Non-woven geotextile
Woven geotextile
Needle-punched geotextile
Heat-bonded geotextile
PP geotextile
PET geotextile
Etc. How is UV radiated to geotextiles? A case of common polymer breakdown.
When a geotextile is left out in the sunlight, UV energy penetrates and begins breaking down the molecular structure of the fibres. When that happens is usually not apparent until much later, when the material starts to lose its performance properties.
The loss of benefits normally manifests itself as:
Reduced tensile strength
Reduced elongation
Surface cracking
Brittle fibres
Reduced useful life
In which case the in service application, the geotextiles perform in shorter time than expected.
Especially in outside application where they are left exposed until the project is completed, sometimes even partially or put fully installed. Result: this degrades the performance. The UV resistance is one of the important points to specify for a geotextile.
Why is UV resistance essential for outdoor projects?Long-term Reliability
One of the roles of geotextile fabric is reinforcement and they all rely on the tensile strength of the geotextile to distribute the load and to hold back the softer earth underneath.
If the sun undermines that fibre strength it is ultimately reflected. UV resistant geotextiles ensure that the project performs as intended structurally.
Longevity of Use
No one builds a project for two years. A UV resistant geotextile means that earthworks will last, and reduce the chance of failure, especially where if it goes wrong, it’s a long way until a maintenance crew can arrive.
Protection of Work
When projects slip behind schedule it is usually because of rain, a lack of labour or having the right kind of machine available to complete the project.
For this reason, it’s a normal practice for the geotextiles to be left exposed for weeks and sometimes months. A geotextile with better UV resistance offers greater protection until the product passes to being installed.
Road and Highway Construction
Roads and highways may use driveway fabric and separation layer of geotextile between the soil and aggregate layers. These kinds of uses may also be exposed to the sun in the part of the construction process.
UV is used to help them respect of these materials until the roadway pavement goes down.
Drainage Products
Filtration and drainage geotextile products are used widely in drainage trenches, French drains and systems for managing subsurface water, etc.
In some applications portion were left exposed, so a UV resistant fabric is called for, to respect the desired filtration and overall performance.Erosion Control Projects
Slope reinforcement and erosion protection systems in direct sunlight over time would benefit from better knowledge of the geotextile included in them.
Landfills and Environmental Projects
Landfill covers and environmental containment systems utilise geotextiles in wishing areas for filtration, separation and protection, as those applications are generally outside, and would benefit from knowledge or UV resistant geotextiles.
Coastal and Marine Construction
Shoreline protection and coastal works are generally constantly in direct decision of sunlight and in turn also experience changes in moisture and temperature – UV respect is important to stability.
UV Resistant Non Woven vs Woven Geotextile
UV recipient may be used in both non recipient products and woven geotextile product.
Non Woven Geotextile
These materials are used in a wide range of filtering, draining and separating uses.
They usually afford:
o High permeability
o Good water flow rate
o Good filtration
o Flexible in the installation
They may be readily converted to types of a UV recipient versions for drainage and other environmental uses.
Woven Geotextile
Woven/similar products are mainly used in reinforcement and stabilisation.
Advantages being:
Higher tensile strength
Load distribution better
Soils better provided with their inclusion..
UV stabilised versions are used/made into
Roads
Embankments
Other walls.do. The choice is because of these as specific purposes, and not necessarily that they are a UV recipient.Importance of Material Chosen
The choice of raw material used to manufacture a given product determines its UV resistant property, that is, how well the finished product performs the task.
PP geotextile
Some of the most popular geotextiles in the world intended for civil engineering are these polypropylene products.
The advantages from this type of product are:
AC lightweight structure
AC moisture resistance
AC chemical resistance
AC excellent durability.
With UV stabilisers, PP geotextiles give good reliable long term performance outside.
PET geotextile
The benefits here are:
high tensile strength
excellent stability
good creep resistance.
PET geotextiles tend to be chosen for the project need for long term reinforcement, stability and strength. The better the UV protection, the better the life.
Important Performance Indicators
The buyer looking for a UV resistant geotextile should check these 5 technical properties, among others.
Tensile strength
Measures how much pulling force the material can withstand before it actually deforms. Higher the better, for reinforcement.
CBR puncture strength
How much load before it punctures – an important feature for specs on roadbuilding and those being laid over sharp aggregate.
Permeability and flow rate
Very important for drainage and filtering jobs, a good quality UV resistant geotextile should not have its numbers affected throughout its life in the ground.
UV retention percentage
The supplier of Commercial products will often supply the answers from tests how much of the strength is left after certain exposure times to UV and so on. The higher the retention percentage, the better in terms of durability.
How UV Resistant Geotextiles Will Reduce Project Costs
Though the UV resistant ones may be a bit pricier, this can be so offset in the total savings made realising a longer service life.
fewer repairs and less replacements
no constant maintenance eye
better overall performance less chance of project failure.
Huge infrastructural projects will be benefiting from these sorts of savings. Many of these engineers and designers do not see UV resistance as an added bonus but rather a logical benefit to help guarantee a reliable project.
Call it Geotextiles
UV radiation is one of the most underrated components in the actual testing of geotextiles and maybe just the general public understanding of their function. Extended exposure to the sun has the potential to compromise tensile strength and shorten life while jeopardising the performance of filtering and drainage systems, with separation and reinforcement units taking the hit.