Geosynthetics Australia supplies commercial quantities of geogrids for soil reinforcement and road maintenance projects.
Soil reinforcement and road paving
Geogrids are engineered geosynthetic products made from polypropylene or polyester. Their open aperture confines substrates such as soil or gravel which increases the shear strength of the material. They are widely used in civil engineering and related applications for short and long term soil reinforcement and to stabilise embankments. They also provide tensile reinforcement for aggregate base courses in flexible or asphalt pavements.
Lateral spreading of base course aggregate or sub-base material is the most critical and common reason for failure in pavement structures. Polypropylene (PP) biaxial geogrids are manufactured by extruding high density polypropylene to form rigid arrays. Because the grids stabilize aggregates in the soil they increase its tensile strength and bearing and load support capacity. Additionally, when used in construction, aggregate thickness is reduced by up to 50%.
Composite geogrids consist of a biaxial grid and a nonwoven geotextile. The high tensile strength grid has a low elongation while the geotextile has high tear strength. Composite grids are suited for sites where both reinforcement of weak subgrades and separation and filtration is required. They are also used for waterproof protection.
High tensile woven polyester geogrids are made from high-strength, anti-embrittle, low shrinkage polyester yarn and sewn with high strength fibre filaments. They can be coated with PVC, SBR, Bitumen or Acrylic. The precision warp knitting offers superior junction strength and a high coefficient of soil interaction.
Glass fibre geogrids have a high tensile strength in both the longitudinal (MD) and transverse (CD) direction. They are a cost-efficient way to control reflective cracking in asphalt concrete overlays. They also dramatically extend the life of roads, airport runways and parking lots and save on maintenance costs.