Technical Note Puncture resistance of PVC geomembranes using the truncated cone test

摘要

This paper presents an experimental study to develop a design procedure for thenpuncture behavior of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) geomembranes. The puncture resistance wasnmeasured using the truncated cone test, in which truncated cones are used as puncture points. Thenheights of the truncated cones are varied to determine the critical cone height, which is the heightnat which geomembrane puncture occurs for a given pressure. A cushion geotextile is not used innany test to enhance puncture resistance because of the large cone heights required to puncturenPVC geomembranes. Critical cone heights are presented for 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm and 1.0 mm thicknPVC geomembranes. The results of these tests show that as the thickness of the PVCngeomembrane increases, the critical cone height increases. This indicates an increased puncturenresistance with increasing geomembrane thickness. The results of the puncture tests on PVCngeomembranes are compared with other types of geomembrane, e.g. smooth and textured 1.5 mmnthick high-density polyethylene and 1.0 mm thick linear low-density polyethylene. This comparisonnshows that the puncture resistance of PVC geomembranes used in this investigation exceeds that ofnpolyethylene geomembranes, even though the PVC geomembranes are thinner.