Long-term monitoring of long linear geotechnical infrastructure for a deeper understanding of deterioration processes
Long linear geotechnical infrastructure such as earth embankments and cuttings used for railways, highways and flood defence can progressively reduce in performance over time as a result of aging and deterioration principally driven by environmental cycles of wetting and drying. These include volumetric and fabric changes including desiccation cracking, accumulating downslope plastic strain and geo-chemical/mineralogical changes, influencing the strength, stiffness, permeability and water retention behaviour of the soils from which they are constructed. A deeper understanding of these processes is necessary to develop effective tools for assessing and forecasting the geotechnical condition of long linear infrastructure over the lifespan of the asset and in response to climate change. As part of a major research project called ACHILLES, three exemplar long linear geotechnical earthworks have been instrumented with state-of-the-art sensors for long-term monitoring of deterioration behaviour and condition. The monitored sites are a highway cutting slope, a constructed trial embankment and a flood embankment. The sites are also being extensively characterised using geophysical, geodetic, UAV and cone penetrometer approaches. Data from these exemplar assets is of fundamental importance to understanding deterioration processes and is being used to validate conceptual and numerical models of asset performance and enable rapid characterisation of their current condition.
Funding
Assessment, Costing and enHancement of long lIfe, Long Linear assEtS (ACHILLES)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Find out more...History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Published in
Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Field Monitoring in Geomechanics (ISFMG2022)Source
11th International Symposium on Field Monitoring in Geomechanics (ISFMG 2022)Publisher
International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)Version
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
The paper was published in the proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Field Monitoring in Geomechanics and was edited by Dr. Andrew M. Ridley. The symposium was held in London, United Kingdom, 4-7 September 2022. This paper was downloaded from the Online Library of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The library is available here: https://www.issmge.org/publications/online-library. Reproduced with the permission of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).Acceptance date
2022-07-01Publication date
2022-11-01Copyright date
2022Publisher version
Language
- en