Selection of suitable Geotextile materials for Geotextile containment systems -onshore and offshore structures

Geotextile containment systems are one of the innovative technologies that can be applied for various coastal protection structures. Coastal structures are undergoing a lot of research in the current technical scenario, for using innovative materials for onshore and offshore structures. In this sector, geosystems or geotextile containment systems which can be applied for the construction of various structures, either onshore or offshore have advanced and hence improvements in the analysis of systems is very important. Selection of type and size of the containment system are the basic parameters for the decision makers to apply the containment systems for coastal protection systems. One basic criteria that should be considered is the type of geotextile material to be used for the fabrication of the containment units. There are guidelines for selection of geotextile materials, which can be termed as conventional now, are produced in the GRI GT 10 guidelines. There is clear differentiation mentioned in using these guidelines when the materials are subjected to aggressive conditions and typical conditions. These guidelines need to be relooked into now as the industry has outgrown and used various geotextile materials in the construction of various structures across the globe. In India these geosystems are used for various applications such as submerged artificial reef structures, breakwater core structural elements, groin structures, submerged dykes, protection bunds for onshore structures, etc. In the context of the Indian sub-continent, geosystems are made of either woven or nonwoven geotextiles. A larger perspective is supposed to be provided as a selection criterion for the type of geotextile materials. In the context of this paper, there should be further criteria set out in selection of appropriate type of polymer, yarn used for the construction of geotextile material, tensile strength requirements, apparent opening size based on available fill materials, abrasion resistance based on location of structure, UV resistance of the containment systems used for various coastal applications.