Overview

Manufactured organic products constitute what users usually call plastic materials or more simply plastics. The development of these materials during the second half of the 20 ^th century was remarkably spectacular and figuratively invaded the most varied of fields, including those where traditional occupations were deeply established and where the stakeholders had the easy tendency of slowing down the inescapable developments of technology.

Civil engineering was also caught in this sweeping wave, in particular geotechnics with geosynthetics, cellular structures and the more general field of waterproofing. Other applications like fluid conveyance systems, drainage, road equipments or civil engineering structures have also turned to these new materials.

In these various applications, the material generally does not appear alone. Most often, it forms a part of a complex structure or system where it plays one of the roles assigned to the whole. This is a new approach, which makes it possible to make the most of the remarkable qualities of organic materials without having to suffer from their weaknesses.

In addition, an old material that had been neglected for a long time in construction and public works is currently making efforts to make a comeback in the field. This is structural timber, still called industrial wood, which we believe should be mentioned in this chapter because it is also an organic material and, though its origin is a gift of nature, its use requires processing in a factory. Its use had almost disappeared from the field of civil engineering in...