Geotextile Characterization and Pore-Size Distribution: Part III. Comparison of Methods and Application to Design

Abstract

Geotextiles are widely used in filtration applications. For continued growth in this area, it is critical that geotextiles be properly designed for these applications to prevent failures. The geotextile property that is most directly related to the design of a geotextile as a filter is the pore-size distribution of the geotextile. The main objective of this study was to compare the performance of the following six different test methods to evaluate the pore-size distribution of geotextiles: dry sieving, hydrodynamic sieving, wet sieving, bubble point method, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and image analysis. Twenty-eight geotextiles from five different manufacturers were evaluated. In this paper, the pore-size distribution results obtained from these methods are compared. The differences in pore opening results by different methods are illustrated using a design example.