Woven vs nonwoven geotextile, chosen by function.
The single biggest specification error we see on Malaysian projects is treating geotextile as a commodity. Woven and nonwoven are not interchangeable. Woven carries tensile load (reinforcement, heavy-load separation); nonwoven passes water and retains fines (filtration, drainage cushioning, protection above geomembrane). Picking wrong has predictable failure modes: aggregate ruts in months, drains blind within one wet season, geomembranes puncture in operation. This page lays out the head-to-head, the function-first selection rule, the cost of getting it wrong, and the cases where you need both. Supply via Starwall, sole STRATA distributor.
The manufacturing difference drives the behaviour.
Woven and nonwoven geotextile are different products that happen to share the geotextile name.
- Woven. Continuous tapes or yarns of polypropylene (or polyester) are interlaced at right angles on an industrial loom, producing a sheet with high directional tensile, low elongation under load, and a controlled regular pore structure between yarns. The fabric looks visually like a regular weave (you can see the criss-cross pattern). Tensile is high in the warp and weft directions, much lower diagonal. Pore size is the geometric gap between yarns, typically AOS 0.15-0.6 mm.
- Nonwoven. Short fibres (staple) or continuous filaments are mechanically needled (the standard for filtration and drainage) or thermally bonded into a felt-like sheet. The fabric looks visually like a felt or thick blotter (no regular pattern). Tensile is moderate and isotropic (similar in any direction), elongation at break is high (40-80 percent). Pore size is the result of a tortuous network through the felt thickness; AOS typically 0.06-0.20 mm; permittivity (out-of-plane water transmission) is high.
This manufacturing split drives every downstream property and every functional fit. Woven is what you reach for when the load matters (tensile, separation under wheel pressure, reinforcement of weak subgrade). Nonwoven is what you reach for when water flow matters (filtration, drainage, protection cushioning).
Head-to-head on every key property.
| Property | Woven (StrataTex woven) | Nonwoven (StrataTex nonwoven) |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Interlaced PP / PET tapes or yarns on industrial loom | Needle-punched or thermally bonded PP staple or continuous filament |
| Polymer (typical) | PP for short / medium life; PET for permanent reinforcement | PP almost exclusively |
| Wide-width tensile (ISO 10319) | 15-200+ kN/m (specification driver) | 5-30 kN/m (modest, isotropic) |
| Elongation at break | 10-25 percent (low, predictable) | 40-80 percent (high, energy-absorbing) |
| Apparent opening size (AOS) | 0.15-0.6 mm (geometric weave gap) | 0.06-0.20 mm (tortuous, smaller effective) |
| Permittivity (out-of-plane flow) | 0.1-1.5 per second (moderate) | 1.0-4.0 per second (high) |
| In-plane transmissivity | Negligible | Low to moderate (depending on weight) |
| Weight range (gsm) | 200-1000+ (driven by tensile target) | 130-1000+ (driven by filtration / protection target) |
| Indicative cost band | Mid to high (per m², for tensile grade) | Low to mid (per m², for filter grade) |
| Design life | Permanent (PET); short-medium (PP) per BS 8006 reduction factors | Permanent in neutral ground; check chemical RF in aggressive ground |
| Best functional fit | Reinforcement, separation under heavy load, basal mat | Filtration, drainage cushioning, protection above geomembrane, erosion-control underlay |
Function-first selection in detail.
1. Reinforcement
Carrying tensile load within a soil mass. Slope reinforcement, basal mat under embankments on soft ground, MSE wall reinforcement, working platform on weak subgrade. Always woven. PET for permanent and long-design-life applications (lower creep); PP for short to medium term. Wide-width tensile is the headline spec; layer count, spacing, and embedment length are project-specific via BS 8006 or FHWA-NHI-10-024. See our basal reinforcement page.
2. Separation
Keeping two soil layers from mixing under load. Sub-base aggregate from weak subgrade in haul roads, working platforms, container yards; ballast from subgrade in railway track; rip-rap from native soil at toe protection. Woven for heavy load (wheel pressure, plant); nonwoven for lighter separation on stable ground. The mistake of using light nonwoven for separation under heavy load is the most common Malaysian geotextile failure: fines pump into the aggregate, separation is lost, rutting follows within months.
3. Filtration
Passing water out while retaining fines. Behind retaining walls and reinforced slope drainage, around perimeter pipes, in trench drains, at landfill leachate drainage layers. Always nonwoven. AOS sized to native fines (typical 0.06-0.15 mm for well-graded fines); permittivity at least 10x the soil permeability. Light to mid weight (200-400 gsm) typical. See our geotextile for drainage page.
4. Drainage (in-plane flow)
Carrying water in-plane through the geotextile thickness, replacing or supplementing a granular drainage layer. Heavy nonwoven (400-1000 gsm) or geocomposite (nonwoven + cuspated core, StrataDrain). Suited to retaining wall back-of-wall drainage, landfill cap drainage, vertical drainage strip behind shotcrete face.
5. Protection (cushioning)
Cushioning a geomembrane from puncture by aggregate, debris, or operational loading. Heavy nonwoven (typically 400-1000 gsm) above and below HDPE / LLDPE geomembrane in landfill cells, pond linings, mine TSF, and chemical containment. Weight (gsm) and CBR puncture resistance are the headline specs; calculation per BAM 1996 or FHWA / EPA standard protection sizing methods.
Three failures we see over and over.
| What was specified | What happened | What it should have been |
|---|---|---|
| Light 200 gsm nonwoven for separation under haul road on saprolite (CBR 2) | Fines pumped through nonwoven into aggregate within 3-6 months. Yard rutted; rectification required full aggregate strip and replacement. | Woven separation geotextile (15-25 kN/m wide-width tensile) plus nonwoven filter behind perimeter drains. Or geocomposite separation-filter laminate. |
| Light woven (no AOS spec) wrapping perimeter drain behind retaining wall | Drain blinded with fines within first wet season as woven pore structure passed too coarse a particle range; water pressure built up behind wall; remedial drainage trenching required. | 200-300 gsm nonwoven filter wrap with AOS sized to native subgrade fines. |
| 200 gsm nonwoven directly above 1.5 mm HDPE geomembrane in landfill cell base | Aggregate puncture failures of liner during waste placement; subsequent leachate detection in monitoring wells; cell partial reconstruction. | 600-1000 gsm nonwoven protection layer per FHWA / EPA protection sizing. Plus often a second layer below the geomembrane on prepared subgrade. |
| Woven 50 kN/m specified for filter behind retaining wall (cheap source, sold as 'geotextile') | Same outcome as nonwoven-blind case, faster onset, because woven AOS 0.4 mm let coarse fines straight through. | Nonwoven 200-300 gsm. Woven is the wrong family for any filtration role. |
Common projects that take both.
Many Malaysian projects need both woven and nonwoven on the same scope. Knowing the split upfront prevents under-specifying one side of the brief.
- Haul road or working platform on weak subgrade. Woven separation under the aggregate against the subgrade, nonwoven filter wrap around the perimeter drainage trench. Two products, two functions, both essential.
- MSE wall or reinforced soil slope. Uniaxial geogrid (technically a geogrid, not a geotextile, but the same supply route) for reinforcement; nonwoven filter behind the wall drainage; sometimes a woven wrap at the face for fill containment. See our RSS page.
- Landfill cell. Nonwoven protection above and below the geomembrane; heavy nonwoven or geocomposite drainage above the geomembrane; sometimes a woven separation at the operations layer. See landfill liner design.
- Embankment on soft ground. Woven HSR basal mat for tensile lateral-thrust restraint; nonwoven filter around any toe drainage; nonwoven protection if a buried geomembrane is part of the system.
- Slope work. Nonwoven underlay below geocell or rip-rap (separation + filter), woven wrap at face folds in RSS construction, nonwoven filter wrap around toe drains. See geotextile for slope protection.
For these multi-function jobs, we deliver both grades from one supply route via Starwall. Single source, certified material, matched lead times.
When one product does both jobs.
Where the project genuinely needs both woven and nonwoven function at the same horizon, geocomposite products combine the two by bonding or stitching. The result saves placement labour and avoids overlap-mismatch errors.
- Woven-nonwoven separation-filter laminate. Used at sub-base / weak subgrade interface; woven side carries the separation tensile, nonwoven side filters fines. Common spec at port and logistics yards on saprolite.
- Drainage geocomposite (StrataDrain and similar). Nonwoven filter face bonded to a cuspated (egg-crate) HDPE core that carries in-plane drainage. Replaces granular drainage blanket behind retaining walls and at landfill caps; significantly faster install at high cost-per-m² but lower total cost on tight sites.
- Reinforced filtration composite. Woven scrim bonded into a heavy nonwoven for high-load filtration applications (behind shotcrete face, MSE wall internal drainage). Standard size 4 m wide rolls for shotcrete face filter use.
- Multi-function landfill geocomposite. Heavy nonwoven protection bonded to a geomembrane and a drainage layer in a single deliverable; some jurisdictions prefer this for QA simplicity at the landfill base.
Geotextile-related resources.
Geotextile →
Product hub.
Geotextile design guide →
Function-by-function reference.
Geotextile specification guide →
Spec-writing reference.
Geotextile for drainage →
Nonwoven filter applications.
Geotextile for slope protection →
Five roles on slope work.
Geosynthetics spec guide →
All five categories.
Geotextile filter calculator →
AOS and permittivity sizing.
STRATA Malaysia →
Distributor (Starwall).
Geotextile spec or selection question?
WhatsApp the application brief (function, load, fines, life). Same-day grade selection with woven, nonwoven, or geocomposite recommendation. Supply via Starwall, certificate of conformance on every delivery.