Geosynthetics and geosystems; properties and functions

The purpose of this Section is to provide a quick orientation and introduction to the application possibilities of geosynthetics. The term geotextiles has already become common in civil engineering. Geotextiles are now incorporated in many engineering designs, and new applications are continuously growing. On the other hand, due to the relatively recent technological developments in the chemistry and textile industry, new synthetic materials and related products have appeared with a number of applications in civil engineering. These new products contain, for instance, such products as geotextiles (woven and nonwoven), geomembranes, geonets, geogrids, geomats, geocells and other geocomposites, and are collectively called geosynthetics.