Effect of Thickness Reduction on Geosynthetic Hydraulic Transmissivity

A new theoretical relationship that quantifies the reduction in hydraulic transmissivity resulting from a reduction in geosynthetic thickness is presented. It is shown that the proposed relationship is in good agreement with experimental data on geotextiles and geonets. This relationship is useful to predict hydraulic transmissivity reduction from the results of compression tests on geosynthetics. This is particularly useful when the thickness reduction is due to creep, because it is impractical to conduct hydraulic transmissivity tests over a long period of time.