A study has been undertaken in Kuwait to investigate the effects on the strength of geotextiles and geogrids of exposure, storage and burial in soil in a hot dry climate. Kuwait was chosen as it experiences air temperatures ranging from 45°C in summer to 0°C in winter and has an extremely high UV radiation level with long hours of uninterrupted sunshine most days of the year. Comparative evaluations of the effects of long term exposure, storage and bn’rial in soil on the strength of two geotextiles and two geogrids were carried out. These indicate quite different responses from the four products, ranging from total degradation of the woven geotextile to virtually no measured effect on the strength of the uniaxial geogrid. The data also indicate that short and long term strength testing methods do not necessarily provide the same evaluations of the response of products to· temperature cycling and UV radiation.
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