The paper introduces the use of an infrared thermographic technique to detect the manifestation of physical processes of damage in a three-dimensional woven polyester fabric subjected to the traffic of heavy vehicles. Thanks to the thermomechanical coupling occurring in the polyester fabric, this non-destructive, noncontact and in real time technique (NDT) highlights the heat generation caused by the energy dissipated by the material during the passage of a wheel. Experimental results show that the infrared thermographic technique provides a useful means to evaluate the mechanical performance of geosynthetic products under full-scaleservice loading.