Protective Cushioning and Filtration with Ocean Non Woven Geotextile 285 GSM in Srinagar Landfill Project

At the Srinagar Landfill Project in Uttarakhand, Ocean Non Wovens supplied 1800 SQM of Ocean Non Woven Geotextile 285 GSM for the landfill containment system. The geotextile was used as a cushion and filter layer alongside the site’s HDPE liner.

Project overview

• Project type: Landfill project
• Location: Srinagar, Uttarakhand
• Product used: Ocean Non Woven Geotextile 285 GSM
• Quantity: 1800 SQM

The same project also used Ocean HDPE Liner 1.5 MM as its impermeable barrier, covered in a separate case study.

What the geotextile does in a landfill liner

A geomembrane stops leachate, but it is thin and can be punctured. A needle-punched non woven geotextile placed against it handles the jobs the membrane cannot:

• Cushion protection: the felt-like fabric sits between the liner and stones in the subgrade or drainage layer, so point loads are spread over a wider area.
• Filtration: water and leachate pass through the fabric while soil fines are held back, which keeps the drainage layer from clogging.
• Separation: it stops fill, gravel and soil from mixing at layer boundaries.
• Drainage support: the fabric can carry some water in its own plane, helping drainage at the base and on side slopes.
• Stress distribution: it spreads the load from waste and cover material more evenly across the liner surface.

At Srinagar, the geotextile layer protected the HDPE liner from puncture damage caused by subgrade irregularities.

Why puncture protection matters

Puncture is one of the most common ways a landfill liner fails, and it usually traces back to an inadequate cushion layer. A small stone under a geomembrane may do no harm on the day of installation, but as waste is placed, the load on that point keeps rising. Over time it can stretch the membrane locally until it cracks or tears, and the leak sits under metres of waste where it cannot be repaired.

Puncture resistance of a geotextile is usually measured with the CBR puncture test (ASTM D6241 or ISO 12236). Heavier grades are chosen where the subgrade or the drainage aggregate above the liner is coarse or angular; lighter grades suit a well-prepared, fine-grained subgrade.

Installation challenges

Laying geotextile looks simple, but field conditions add several complications:

• Alignment: rolls must run straight so overlaps stay consistent along the length.
• Overlap control: overlaps that are too short open gaps once the fabric shifts under cover material. On slopes, the upslope panel should lap over the downslope one.
• Wind exposure: lightweight panels lift easily and need sandbags or ballast until they are covered.
• Surface irregularities: sharp stones and roots should be removed from the subgrade before placement.
• Moisture: wet fabric is heavier and harder to position and seam.

Correct overlap lengths and wrinkle control matter most. Wrinkles trapped under cover soil become folds that concentrate stress on the liner. The fabric should also be covered without long delays, because polymer geotextiles lose strength under prolonged sunlight.

Long-term benefits

• Drainage layers that stay open because fines are filtered out
• Protection of the liner against puncture under rising waste load
• Stable layer boundaries through separation
• Consistent filtration performance over the life of the cell
• A longer working life for the containment system as a whole

Ocean Non Wovens geotextiles

Through the supply of Ocean Non Woven Geotextile 285 GSM for the Srinagar Landfill Project, Ocean Non Wovens added a protection and filtration layer to the site’s containment system. Ocean Non Wovens supplies geosynthetic products for infrastructure, landfill, irrigation and environmental applications across India. More projects are listed in our case studies.