Prediction of Pore Size Characteristics of Needle-Punched Nonwoven Geotextiles Subjected to Uniaxial Tensile Strains

A modified theoretical model has been proposed to predict the pore size characteristics of nonwoven geotextiles under certain uniaxial tensile strains, considering the difference between the out-of-plane Poisson’s ratio and the in-plane Poisson’s ratio of geotextiles. The pore size distributions (PSDs) and O₉₅subjected to different levels of uniaxial tensile strains in two needle-punched nonwoven geotextiles have been investigated by the dry sieving test. The variation of the fibre orientation with tensile strains and the corresponding effect on pore sizes has been evaluated by image analysis. The out-of-plane Poisson’s ratio and the in-plane Poisson’s ratio of geotextiles have been examined. A comparison has been made between the predictions of the original and the modified models. It is shown that the modified model can more accurately predict the decreasing rate of the PSDs, O₉₅, and O₉₈than the original one. The corrected theoretical O₉₅and O₉₈under certain strains can provide a reference for the filtration design under engineering strains. The fibres reorientating to the loading direction result in the increase of the directional parameter with increasing tensile strains, which leads to the decrease of pore sizes. The theoretical PSDs are sensitive to the variation of directional parameter.

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