The installation process of geosynthetics can be, in some applications, one of the most relevant degradation mechanisms of these construction materials, affecting their performance and useful lifetime. In this work, three nonwoven geotextiles with different masses per unit area were submitted to mechanical damage under repeated loading tests with corundum and with different natural aggregates. The damage occurred in the geotextiles was evaluated by visual inspection and by monitoring changes in their short-term tensile and puncture behaviors (mechanical properties) and in their water permeability behavior normal to the plane (hydraulic property). The mechanical damage under repeated loading tests provoked relevant changes in the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the geotextiles. These changes depended on the mass per unit area of the geotextiles and on the characteristics of the aggregates. The results enabled the establishment of a correlation between the loss of mechanical strength and the variation of the water permeability normal to the plane of the geotextiles.
Keywords: degradation; geosynthetics; geotextiles; hydraulic behavior; mechanical behavior; mechanical damage under repeated loading.