Experimental and analytical methods for estimating durability of geosynthetic materials

Methods for estimating the durability of geosynthetic material (polypropylene geonet of double orientation) for a long time of loading based on the results of laboratory tests during quasistatic loading and during long-term 1000-h creep are described. A test procedure connected with the choice of geometrical sizes of net and experiment organization was developed. Tests on creep of samples of large size restricted by the possibilities of the test installation face special difficulties. It is shown that we can reject the performance of experiments on samples consisting of a particular amount of cells in width and length and perform test on bundles carrying a load. For calculations, a simplified model based on the Rabotnov nonlinear hereditary-type equation is chosen. The possibility of its application for estimating material durability at long times of loading is shown. Examples are given.