An Assessment of the Extent of Application of Geosynthetics to Civil Infrastructure Projects in Ghana

Abstract

This study was informed by the lack of literature that gave a country-specific holistic account of the extent of the application of geosynthetics to civil infrastructure projects. Thus, this current study determined the extent that geosynthetics had been applied to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana and, established the relative level of application of geosynthetics to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana. Structured questionnaire aided in data collection. Data were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and one sample t-test. The study revealed that there was a low level of application of geosynthetics to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana. However, Ghana’s case was of great concern as geosynthetics had been applied to only 7 out of the 28 civil infrastructure projects identified in previous studies. Pipe projects had the most application of geosynthetics whereas geosynthetics were least applied to retaining structures. Moreso, the study further revealed that only 6 out of the 9 types of geosynthetics had been applied to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana namely: geopipes, geomembranes, geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, and geocells. Relatively, geopipes were the most applied geosynthetics whereas geocells were the least applied geosynthetics to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana. This study serves as reference material on the extent of application of geosynthetics to civil infrastructure projects in Ghana which hitherto was lacking in the construction industry in Ghana. It also serves as the basis for future studies on the application of geosynthetics as it contributes to the existing body of literature on the subject.