FRICTION CHARACTERISTICS OF A NONWOVEN GEOTEXTILE AND PEAT

Embankment on peat present a difficult problem for present day highways because of their heavy traffic loads. It has been customary to avoid peat lands when planning the construction of a highway, and this is still the preferred solution. However, as land becomes more scarce and more areas become populated the choice of highway gets narrower. The present note pertains to peat from the Gue de Constantine area, near Algiers (Algeria), and also to reinforced peat. The site is to be developed to accommodate an extension to the eastern highway. Use of a geotextile has been recommended for the improvement of the embankment and friction characteristics obtained from shear tests of a nonwoven geotextile in a peat are presented and discussed.