Infrastructure construction and upgrading play a key role in agriculture development. Roads is one of essential constituents of such infrastructure, as they ensure efficient transportation of agricultural produce, equipment and materials to agrarian facilities. In the last decades, geosynthetics have become an intrinsic part of the process of building connecting roads to agricultural projects due to their performance, cost-effectiveness and durability.
Contents:
What is geosynthetics?
Geosynthetics are artificial polymeric or combined materials aimed at improving soil geotechnical properties and ensuring durability of structures engineered. These materials may include geotextile, geomembranes, geogrids and other types, each of which is designed for certain construction purposes.
Benefits
Geosynthetics application in road construction has a number of benefits:
- Soil reinforcement
Geosynthetic materials, such as geotextile and geogrids, play an important role in reinforcing weak road subgrades. In cases when soil has a low bearing capacity and is susceptible to deformation under load, geotextile is capable to significantly improve its mechanical properties. Geotextile, placed between soil layers, prevents their mixing and migration, which helps maintain the road pavement structural integrity.
Materials for soil reinforcement are represented by Geospan GT PP and Geospan GC in Geospan range.
- Erosion protection
Erosion may become a serious problem in rural areas, where moisture and wind impact on soil is particularly significant. Geogrids can provide a reliable countermeasure against erosion.
Materials for erosion protection are represented by Geospan GC in Geospan range.
- Drainage enhancement
A proper drainage system is essential to maintain durability of road pavements. Geosynthetics contribute to development of effective drainage systems improving water evacuation out of road structures. Geocomposites and thermally bonded geotextile can be used in vertical and horizontal draining layers that keep water under control by preventing its holdup in soil. This helps keep the road base stable and prevents soil wash-out by water.
Materials for draining performance improvement are represented by Geospan BB and Geospan GT PP D in Geospan range.
- Layer thickness reduction
Saving material and resources is a significant goal of engineering projects. Woven geotextile allows to reduce the thickness of a road structure layers with their bearing capacity and stability intact. Effective load distribution and minimization of layer thickness can be reached by soil reinforcement with woven geotextile used.
Materials for layer thickness reduction are represented by Geospan GT PP in Geospan range.
- Durability
Durability is an important issue in rural areas, where infrastructure is exposed to numerous environmental factors. Woven geotextile possesses high resistance to chemical impact, UV rays and mechanical loads thus facilitating a long service life of road structures. This is especially important for agricultural projects that need safe and durable infrastructure for effective performance.
Materials for extension of service life are represented by Geospan GT PP in Geospan range.
Application examples
Construction of a connecting road to Agrofirma May OOO’s farm in Romanovsky region. Geospan GT PP 50 geosynthetic material was used during construction.
Construction of a connecting road to Invid-Agro OOO’s agricultural projects in the village Solonka of Nekhaevsky district in Volgograd region. Geospan GT PP 20 woven geotextile was used during construction.
A farming complex for table turkey production. Construction of a connecting road to two fattening sites in the village Starokyonsky of Pervimaisky district in Tambov region. Geospan GT PP 33 geosynthetic material was used during construction.
Conclusions
Geosynthetics use in construction of connecting roads to agrarian projects brings about numerous benefits including higher road stability, cost cutting and infrastructure life span extension. They play an important role in agriculture development, ensuring safe and efficient transportation of agricultural produce and equipment. Several dozens of connecting roads to agrarian projects have been constructed with Geospan material use. These roads have an enhanced life span as Geospan geosynthetics service life (proven by 3rd-party laboratories) exceeds 50 years.
