Geogrid road: application and properties

Annually hundreds of thousands of kilometers of highways are laid and repaired. New construction, as a rule, is carried out taking into account modern loads and with the use of new technologies, but repair of the existing canvas, the so-called pit, is often carried out in obsolete non-productive ways.

The end result is of poor quality. Geogrid is a modern cellular structure used for road repair. Technologies that use this material are distinguished by the high quality of the work performed.

Application of a geogrid of road

Construction of new and repair of existing highways for various purposes is the main branch where the geo-grid road is used. Stacking, depending on the technology can be carried out in all layers of the pavement. The main purpose of geogrid road:

• Reinforcement of plots during repair. The geogrid is laid on the damaged part of the asphalt, and a new coating is placed on top of it. The structural properties of the grid prevent the new coating from touching with the cracks of the old one. In this case, the interlayer takes over most of the horizontal stresses.
• In places of greatest loads on the roadway, dents and ruts can form. During repair, the geogrid is placed in grooves on top of the covered asphalt concrete. This allows you to distribute the load evenly over the entire area, preventing the formation of new dents.
• Laying the geogrid into the road surface is carried out by conjugation of various types of coatings (for example, asphalt and cement-concrete) to prevent cracking.

• Strengthening of seams between concrete slabs. When applying asphalt pavement to the base of concrete slabs, weak points are formed in the docking areas, on which the geogrid is laid to reinforce the web.
• With the expansion of the road at the junction of the existing and new coatings, cracks may develop. To prevent this, the joint is reinforced by a geoset.
• Modern technologies often provide for the preliminary reinforcement of soils. For this, a geogrid is also used. The use of a reinforcing layer during the construction of a roadway is an integral part of the technological process.

Geometric types and their properties

The type of geonet determines its application. In addition to the material and the size of the cell, the material is distinguished by the method of formation: biaxial (double oriented) and uniaxial (mono-oriented). Two-axis products with rectangular cells are designed for road construction, including on weak soils. Geogrids of double orientation well distribute loads, which increases the service life. Uniaxial layers of cells of elongated shape have a high tensile strength, are excellent for strengthening soils, landslide areas and loose foundations.

Products for reinforcing asphalt concrete

Geogrid road for reinforcing asphalt concrete allows to distribute local external loads throughout the volume of the adjacent canvas. This material is used to extend the life of highways with a concrete base, which every year becomes more and more. Also, this grid distributes internal stresses resulting from shrinkage of gradually hardening concrete.

Reinforcing concrete with a metal mesh is short-lived and expensive. Fiberglass and polymer geogrids are a cheaper alternative to metal reinforcement and possess all the necessary characteristics:

• The material of such products is chemically inert, not subject to the influence of temperature changes and alkaline environment of concrete.
• Has a unique ability to distribute local loads.
• Has a low weight, long service life, simple installation and affordable cost.

To improve performance, the substrate used in road construction is treated with bitumen.

Geogrid for road construction

The road surface is daily subjected to loads from traffic flows, which inevitably leads to its destruction and the formation of pits, potholes and cracks. The main reason for this is insufficient ground preparation. Geogrid of road surface allows to increase strength characteristics of asphalt concrete, resistance to stretching and to optimize the perception of horizontal stresses.

The use of such materials, both in the construction of new roads and in the repair of existing roads, can significantly improve the performance characteristics and extend the service life of the coating. The use of a geogrid for road construction in combination with geotextiles allows to reduce the necessary volume of non-metallic bulk materials when building a road, which will significantly reduce the cost of the project without changing the quality of the structure.

Polymer geogrids

The geogrid is made of polyester fibers with a polymer coating and is made using thread-binding and piercing technology. This allows you to maintain the original high strength of the material. The structure of the geonetwork is fixed cells of a size that is larger than the material they fill. Due to this, the backfill interacts with the base (soil, rock, other base of materials used in construction).

Polymer materials are used as a reinforcing layer in the lower layers of the road foundation. The use of polymer nets in road structures makes it possible to strengthen the road base and prevent interpenetration of materials from different contacting layers. Strengthening is achieved by restricting the movement of the granules of the bulk material of the base beyond the cell. The formed composite layer (geogrid + granular material) has increased resistance to dynamic loads.

Products from fiberglass

Geocells based on fiberglass are used as reinforcing elements and protective interlayers for the construction and repair of federal and regional roads, aerodromes, bridges and overpasses. The use of fiberglass nets for reinforcing asphalt-concrete coatings allows increasing the operational time between repairs by 2-3 times. The cost of maintaining roads in regions where fiberglass geonet is actively used is reduced by 40%. Such materials have high technical and physical properties: resistance to aggressive media, the ability to withstand high transverse and longitudinal loads. Geogrids from fiberglass significantly improve the strength and mechanical characteristics of the reinforced elements.

Production

To date, the following types of geogrids are produced:

• Extruded polymeric;
• Glued fiberglass;
• Piercing mesh of polyester yarn and fiberglass.

Modern technologies and equipment with a wide variability of production methods make it possible to produce geosets with different properties, from different raw materials and with different fastenings in the nodes. The main requirements are:

• Resistance to natural factors;
• Resistance to the influence of aggressive environments in operating conditions;
• Resistance to ultraviolet radiation;
• Resistance to contamination;
• Strength and stability of properties.

Material selection

From the variety of types of geogrids and their standard sizes, the choice should be based on the purpose, the method of forming cells and the type of raw material. The layers are intended for reinforcement, separation of layers, erosion control, laying of soils and bases. Having determined the purpose, you need to choose a specific type of geonet and its size. Depending on the properties of the raw material, the characteristics of the material that can be resistant to hydro-, bio-, thermo- and chemical exposure are selected.