The sealing of geotextiles by manures

Abstract A better understanding of soil sealing mechanisms by manures suggests that geotextiles of fine porosity can be used as impermeable liners for earthen manure storage facilities of sands and gravels. In the laboratory, non-woven geotextiles of 53 and 75 μm equivalent porosity were exposed to various heads of low total solid swine slurries and their infiltration rate was observed for a period of 1500 h. Geotextile sealing never achieved an infiltration rate under 1 × 10 −8 m/s and seepage values tended to increase after 1000 h. However, the 53 μm geotextile demonstrated infiltration rates significantly lower than that of the 75 μm fabric, for slurry heads of 0·9 and 1·8 m. Exfiltrated liquids were slightly less contaminated than the swine slurry, this indicating the mere filtering capability of the geotextiles. This experimental work demonstrated that fine porosity non-woven geotextiles have some sealing potential, but further research is required to test for lower infiltration rates using geotextiles of porosity finer than 53 μm.