Q. What do you mean by Geotextile filter?
Geosynthetics is a collective term applied to thin, flexible sheets incorporated in or about soil to enhance its engineering performance. The word 'geo' implies the end use associated with improving properties and performance of engineering works founded in soil, whereas, the word 'synthetics' implies that the product is made from man-made polymers. Allied products related to geosynthetics are geomembranes, geotextiles, geogrids, geomeshes, geonets, geomats, etc, which are applied in the foundations under various conditions.
Geotextiles are textile fabrics, made up of polymers, and are permeable to water. The fine holes or pores in the geotextile allow the fluids to flow. Due to tensile and warp strength of the geotextile, geofabric filter has an advantage In case of uneven settlement of small magnitude.
However, in case of significant settlements, damage to the filter is certain. Any type of damage to the filter is difficult to repair.
Comparatively the design and construction of geotextile filters is much simple. The concept of geotextile filters is comparatively new and not much known to the bridge engineers. Therefore, The geofabric filters, their designs, etc is discussed below in details.