ABSTRACT
Geosynthetics-filter cloth, filter fabrics, geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, geomembranes, geowebs, geocomposites-exploded into geotechnical engineering in the 1970s. The North American market alone went from under 8 × 106 m2 (10 × 106 yd2) sold in 1976 to over 500 × 106 m2 (600 × 106 yd2) in 1992 [12.1]. The global market was estimated at approximately 2 × 109 m2 (2.4 × 109 yd2) in 2010, and is forecast to be in excess of 5 × 109 m2 (6 × 109 yd2) by 2018.* The dramatic development of a market for these new products for earthworks occurred for the following reasons [12.1]:
•They are products manufactured under factory conditions, including quality control
• They can be installed rapidly •They generally replace or reduce the use of natural materials (aggre-
gate, for example) •They are generally cost-competitive with the natural materials they
replace
When first introduced, geosynthetics were a new, radical departure from typical geotechnical engineering. The incentive to use them was high, but the risk of failure was also high. It has taken a couple decades for research to provide the required reliable new design methods. Landmark gatherings for the dissemination of research took place with international conferences, the first being held in Paris in 1977, followed by conferences in Las Vegas (1982), Vienna (1986), the Hague (1990), Singapore (1994), Atlanta (1998), Nice (2002), Yokohama (2006), Guarujá (2010), and Berlin (2014). At least two learned journals are published, and countless regional symposia are now held.
