Geotextile for Egyptian archaeological site

Noel Siver <noelsiver2 [at] yahoo__co__uk> writes

>I am seeking recommendations for a geotextile that would be suitable
>for use on an archaeological site in northwest Sinai, Egypt.

When choosing a geotextile to protect the archaeological structures
I think you need to decide how important strength of the textiles is
in addition to the separation function.  Basically you have two
choices:

    1.  a woven, polypropylene textile which may or may not have
        carbon black incorporated for sun resistant.  The woven
        textile will be very strong and the spaces between the woven
        yarns will allow water to pass through.  Fines in the soil,
        that is small particles of soil, may also pass to a limited
        degree. This type of textile will allow the separation
        between the archaeological structure and the fill material.
        In geotextile applications,lengths of the textile would be
        sewn together to give the desired length but I think in this
        application you could over lap the textile and tie the
        sections together with plastic ties.

    2.  a nonwoven, polypropylene or polyester textile which
        normally doesn't have carbon black incorporated in it.  This
        textile will stretch more than the woven textile.  It will
        allow water to pass through and within the structure of the
        fabric so it should work better for drainage. However, if
        the soil is very fine sometimes the nonwoven textiles clog.

I have seen geotechnical applications for separation when the
sections of geotextile were simply overlapped to have a continuous
separation barrier.  Polyester nonwoven geotextiles are usually more
expensive than the polypropylene ones. If you can obtain geotextiles
with carbon (sun resistant) for the same price as white textiles, I
would purchase the sun resistant textiles.  Even though they are
going to be buried the sun resistance is useful if the rolls of
geotextiles sit out in the sun prior to installation.

I am sure that anyone of the major geotextile manufacturers could
tell you what is readily available in the area of Egypt  where you
are working.  Try contacting the International Geotextile Society
for an engineering contact in either Britain or Egypt.  If you work
through the manufacturer directly they may be willing to donate part
of the materials you need. If I can be of further assistance please
contact me directly.

Elizabeth A. Ricards, Ph.D., P. H.Ec.
Professor Emeritus
Textile Science University of Alberta Edmonton
Alberta T6G 2B2
Canada


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:39
                 Distributed: Friday, February 18, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-39-001
                                  ***