AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON TEST STANDARDS FOR ASSESSMENT OF JUTE GEOTEXTILES FOR GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE

Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Rajib Bhattacharyya

Abstract: Geosynthetics made of man-made fibres, and used for addressing a host of geotechnical problems, have for the last two decades, registered a remarkable growth clinching about 95% share of the total global demand in several fields such as erosion control, management of slopes, strengthening of roads, stabilization of embankments, protection of river banks, consolidation of soft soils etc. One such major application of Geosynthetic material is in the field of road construction which has become an established phenomenon worldwide. Recently, however, increasing environmental concerns concomitant with the alarming danger of carbon footprint generation have generated interest in and led to acceptance of natural Jute Geotextile (JGT) where this material plays a significant role for the purpose of reinforcement providing dimensional stability as well as cushioning effect to the road surface thereby improving the life cycle as well as maintenance cost of the road. With the increasing use of Jute Geotextile worldwide in combating geotechnical problems without hampering environmental sustainability, and the confidence with which they are being used is also developing amongst engineers, manufacturers and end users is opening new avenues for potential Jute Geotextile . Hence, there is a dire need for quality control in terms of testing and evaluation of Jute Geotextile demanding formulation of new standards for testing. The existing test standards for synthetic Geotextiles for evaluating different end use property parameters are not uniform globally i.e., these test standards vary from country to country. However, in the field of standardization for testing of different properties of Jute Geotextiles there is a paucity of data for formulation of specifications and quality control guidelines. Test standards for synthetic Geotextiles understandably do not exactly apply to JGT. While study is on to develop exclusive test and design standard for JGT, there is need to adopt any of the existing standards for synthetic Geotextiles that cater to the majority of requirements in the interim period. The paper suggests adoption of ASTM standards for testing JGT because of the wide range of test standards available and their credibility.

Keywords: Jute Geotextile, ASTM standards, Carbon foot print, Geotechnical Engineering, European Standards, CEN

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0212077