Snakeskin-inspired rib patterns for geomembranes
Snakeskin-inspired rib patterns for geomembranes
The interface shear response of clay soil and geomembranes with ribs inspired from the ventral scales of snakes was studied for their application as landfill liners. To this end, three different ventral scale patterns were selected and idealised to design the ribs in the study. Geomembrane prototypes with snakeskin-inspired ribs were fabricated using a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printer with Polylactic Acid (PLA) polymer. Geomembrane prototypes with no surface patterns and two commercial patterns were also 3D printed for comparative purposes. The interface shear response of the geomembrane prototypes with clay of low to medium plasticity obtained from a potential landfill site was investigated in an Advanced Interface Direct Shear Test Apparatus (Adv-IDS). The results of the tests show that the interface shear behaviour of the snakeskin-inspired ribs resembles that of the other commercial patterns, both of which show an increase in the shear stress values compared with the unpatterned geomembrane. The snakeskin-inspired ribs exhibit interface frictional anisotropy, and also mobilise significant inhomogeneous deformation at the interface, and show higher interface efficiency than the conventional geomembrane patterns.
V. L. Gayathri; Prashanth Vangla
9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG2023)
Geosynthetics for the Geoenvironment
Landfill Engineering, Geosynthetics
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICEG2023-109
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