A unique facility for engineering and biological research has been established with the aim of improving fundamental understanding of the effects of climate change on slopes. This paper describes the building and monitoring of a full-scale embankment representative of UK infrastructure, the planting and monitoring of representative vegetation, and the construction of a system of sprinklers and covers to control climate. A summary of the results of the first experiments simulating predicted future UK climate and the response of the embankment is also presented. The information that has begun to be gathered is providing data related to the failure modes anticipated as a result of climate change and hence on the sustainability of UK infrastructure slopes.
This paper investigates the mechanical behaviour of a hypercompacted unstabilized earth material manufactured by compressing a moist soil to very high pressures up to 100 MPa. The hypercompaction procedure increases material density, which in turn improves mechanical characteristics. Samples were manufactured at the scale of both small cylinders and masonry bricks.The effect of ambient humidity on the mechanical characteristics of the material was investigated at the scale of cylindrical samples, showing that both strength and stiffness are sensitive to environmental conditions and tend to increase as ambient humidity reduces. The strength of the bricks was instead investigated under laboratory ambient conditions by using different experimental configurations to assess the influence of sample slenderness and friction confinement. Additional tests were also performed to evaluate the influence of mortar joints and compaction-induced anisotropy. Overall, the hypercompacted earth material exhibits mechanical characteristics that are comparable with those of traditional building materials, such as fired bricks, concrete blocks or stabilized compressed earth.
S. (2014) 'Construction, management and maintenance of embankments used for road and rail infrastructure : implications of weather induced pore water pressures.', Acta geotechnica., 9 (5).pp. 799-816. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11440-014-0324-1Publisher's copyright statement:The nal publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11440-014-0324-1Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. beneath the shoulders of the embankment in response to weather events that were imposed upon its surface by both natural and artificial means. Significant differences were observed in pore water pressure behaviour across the embankment, which were influenced by compaction level, aspect and presence of a granular capping material on the crest. Permeability was also observed to vary across the embankment both spatially and with depth, and temporally, being dependent on degree of saturation and macro-scale effects, particularly within a 'near surface zone'. A conceptual model of an engineered embankment is proposed which encapsulates the above behaviour so as to assist in the modelling and monitoring of road and rail embankments.
A geotechnical perspective of raw earth building.
The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractSignificant advances in unsaturated soils testing have been gained through the development of high suction tensiometers allowing direct measurement of suction beyond 100kPa. This has allowed the implementation of techniques that measure and control suction directly, where the soil is tested in the same conditions as in nature. Previously, much reliance had been placed on indirect measurements of suction and on control of suction using the axis translation technique. It is argued that this technique should be avoided as the use of an elevated air pressure does not replicate natural conditions. This paper presents advances resulting from the use of high suction tensiometers for laboratory testing and field measurements. It also describes an automated suction control system using the air circulation method that can impose controlled cycles of drying and wetting.
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