Issue |
E3S Web of Conf.
Volume 382, 2023
8th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT 2023)
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 06006 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Understanding the Effect of Climate Change on the Environment and Infrastructure Through Unsaturated Soil Behavior | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202338206006 | |
Published online | 24 April 2023 |
Investigation of the hydraulic regime of a desiccated slope under both natural and simulated environmental conditions
School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
* Corresponding author: e.l.mcconnell2@newcastle.ac.uk
Deterioration within desiccated, clay infrastructure embankments can originate from two processes: (A) preferential flow through cracks allowing deeper and faster propagation of wetting fronts, and (B) microstructural degradation, reducing soil water retention capacity. These processes are interrelated, and together act to increase surface layer exposure to intense mechanical weathering and therefore, risk of asset failure. Desiccation induced deterioration is set to intensify under future climate change projections, heightening the need to understand how these processes develop within, and deteriorate, embankment fill over time. To address this, long-term hydrological and desiccation crack monitoring of a large-scale slope, constructed within an outdoor lysimeter, has been carried out under both natural, and simulated, climatic conditions. Initial findings illustrate a highly desiccated slope has the capacity to accept a large volume of storm rainfall prior to crack closure. This volume is set to increase due to the progressive aggregation and reduction in SWR behaviour observed within the slope. The importance of antecedent conditions, both in terms of crack geometry and initial degree of saturation, at the onset of rainfall, additionally proved important as it controls the depth and magnitude of VWC change in the slope. Continued monitoring of the slope will aid our understanding of the temporal evolution of these deterioration processes.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2023
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.