Potential of Uncultivated, Harmful and Abundant Weed as a Natural Geo-Reinforcement Material

Extensive research has been conducted to investigate the utility of agricultural products such as coir, jute, bamboo, and sisal as limited life geotextiles (LLG). These agricultural products have extensive use in automotive industry, paper industry, fishing nets, and shipping rigs. As an alternative, this study demonstrates the usefulness of an abundant, harmful (for environment, eco-tourism, and bio-diversity) weed species Eichhornia crassipes (Water hyacinth (WH)) for manufacturing LLG. Biochemical composition (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and ash content) of WH fiber as well as tensile strength of WH filaments and woven geotextiles were determined. It was found that the tensile strength of woven geotextiles made from WH is higher or comparable to those fibers from the agricultural products. The efficacy of WH geotextile for short term strength improvement was demonstrated by comparing the CBR value of geotextile reinforced soil with that of unreinforced soil. CBR values of soil reinforced with WH geotextile were found to be higher (8.48 ± 0.2 %) as compared to unreinforced soil (6.13 ± 0.07 %). The result obtained from this study is encouraging for promoting the utility of WH LLG in road infrastructure projects.

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