Performance and design of modified geotextile tubes during filling and consolidation

Abstract

The performance of geotextile tubes is affected by many factors such as the pumping pressure, fill material and geotextile properties, and so on. Hence, obtaining hydraulic compatibility between geotextiles and fill materials containing a variety of coarse and fine particles – that is, silty sand – is complex. For this reason, the modified geotextile tube (MGT) was invented to optimize the filling and dewatering or consolidation performance of geotextile tubes. To assess the behavior of MGTs, experimentation and theoretical analysis were conducted. The MGT retention performance, filling time, and water pressure were evaluated through a geotextile bag experiment while the MGT geometry, tension force, strain, water content distribution, and consolidation performance, were investigated through a parametric study. The two-dimensional MGT solution presented in this study is based on a combination of various modeling concepts that were modified or extended to be able to sufficiently describe the MGT behavior. Results showed that the performance of geotextile tubes can be optimized in a variety of ways by interchanging the geotextile placement, by changing the circumferential lengths, and by using geotextiles with different properties. With the methods presented in this study, modified geotextile tube design is made possible.