Investigations of geotextile tube dewatering

Geoenvironmental engineers are increasingly being involved in the dewatering, containment, and remediation of high water content geomaterials. Although successful applications of geotextile tube dewatering have been reported, guidance for geotextile selection and characterization is sparse and continues to rely predominantly upon experience and unpublished proprietary approaches. Among the available test methods, the standard Hanging Bag Test and the Pressure Filtration Test have been widely reported in literature to evaluate dewatering performance of geotextiles. This paper presents results from an experimental investigation focused on evaluating the characteristics of five different geotextile materials (three woven, one non-woven and one composite) for dewatering high water content lake sediments using the Hanging Bag Test and the Pressure Filtration Test. Results indicate that both the tests can be used for preliminary screening of candidate geotextiles. Limitations of the test methods are also highlighted.