An approach to assess the seepage stability of geotextile filters based on soil-water interaction theory and its application

How can the essential requirements of retention, hydraulic conductivity, and clogging for geotextile filters be simultaneously satisfied? Coordinating the assessment of their seepage stability performance is crucial. To achieve this, sixteen soil-geotextile column hydraulic gradient ratio tests were conducted using four typical geotextiles. The seepage stability was evaluated based on hydraulic conductivity, stable hydraulic gradient ratio, and the washout of soil fines observed during the tests. Additionally, both the grain size of the soil and the constriction size of the geotextile were treated as random variables. Utilizing soil-water interaction theory, a retention assessment approach was proposed based on the probability of ineffective retention. The performance limits of retention were determined using data from eighty-five experimentally assessed soil-geotextile columns. Furthermore, a hydraulic conductivity assessment approach was developed, considering the partial clogging of the geotextile due to the formation of a bridging structure. The results indicate that the proposed design criterion surpasses previously published criteria in effectively distinguishing between clogging or blinding in ineffective and effective systems. It was found that polypropylene long-filament geotextiles with a high mass per unit area are particularly well-suited for use as filters.