Standardization of the bubble point method for the pore-size characterization of woven and nonwoven geotextiles

摘要

Reliable geotextile opening size and pore-size distribution information is needed for the proper design of geotextile filters. Existing methods, such as dry, wet, and hydrodynamic sieving, are time consuming and often yield erroneous results. Therefore, there is a need for a reliable test method to evaluate the pore sizes of a geotextile. The bubble point method is a current ASTM standard for thin membrane filters (ASTM F316). In both of these industries, the technique has been used for products that have very fine pore openings (between 0.001 and 0.020 mm). However, little work has been done to evaluate the potential use of this method for materials that have larger pore opening, such as geotextiles (between 0.001 and 0.200 mm). Recent work on the bubble point method indicates promising results for characterizing the opening size and pore-size distribution of geotextile filters.