ISMART

The UK's transport infrastructure is one of the most heavily used in the world. The rail network takes 50% more daily traffic than the French network; the M25 between junctions 15 and 14 carries 165000 vehicles daily; London Underground is Europe's largest subway. The performance of these networks is critically dependent on the performance of cutting and embankment slopes which make up £20B of the £60B asset value of major highway infrastructure alone. Many of these slopes are old and suffering high incidents of instability (increasing with time). Our vision is to create a visualised model of transient water movement in infrastructure slopes under a range of current and future environmental scenarios, based on a fundamental understanding of earthwork material and system behaviour, which can be used to create a more reliable, cost effective, safer and more sustainable transport system. The impact of the improved slope management will be highly significant in both direct economic and indirect social and economic terms: planned maintenance costs 10 times less and reduces delays caused by slope failure. This proposal offers a unique opportunity to unite 6 academic institutions and coalesce their field, laboratory and computing facilities; with a large cohort of PhD students and experienced stakeholder community we will undertake world leading science and create a long-term legacy.
Individually, the partners in this proposal, in collaboration with key infrastructure owners and engineering companies, have been responsible for the instrumentation of 15 cut slopes and embankments, the development of numerical models which couple hydrological and geotechnical effects, and the development of laboratory and filed testing to provide parameters to populate these models. These studies have helped to define the type of problem that is being faced and begin to understand some of the interactions between weather, soil and vegetation. However, further research is required in order to better understand material behaviour (particularly the composite behaviour of soil, water, air and vegetation); slope system behaviour (particularly the effects of temporal and spatial variations of material properties) and the relationships with environmental effects and engineering performance. Furthermore, the integration of the material and slope behaviour with that of the behaviour of the infrastructure network as a whole has thus far not been possible.
It is important for the sustainable management of infrastructure slopes (assessment, planning, repair, maintenance and adaptation) to have models that can assess the likely engineering performance of infrastructure slopes, both now and in the future. Recent model development has started to consider the input of weather patterns, and can therefore model the potential effects of future climate. However it has become clear that these models are sensitive to the way in which a number of the physical processes and properties are incorporated, many of which are complex and difficult to quantify directly. A better understanding of the interactions between earthworks, vegetation and climate is required to formulate robust guidance on which maintenance approaches should be adopted and how they should be applied.
iSMART will use a combination of field measurements, lab testing and development of conceptual and numerical models to investigate the uncertainties and knowledge gaps enumerated above and to visualise the complex interactions taking place over time and space. This knowledge will help the managers of the UK's transport infrastructure to identify problem sites, plan and prioritise maintenance activity, and develop assessment and adaptation strategies to ensure future safety and resilience of geotechnical transport infrastructure.

Geotechnical asset owners such as Network Rail, London Underground, Highways Agency, and regional rail and road agencies along with their engineering consultants will benefit directly. It is intended that the main outcomes of the research will help these authorities develop sustainable asset management strategies to ensure safety and resilience of transport networks through the following: identification of slopes which are most at risk now and in the future; producing targeted maintenance, monitoring and assessment strategies;application of improved assessment techniques;quantifying the benefits of different remedial techniques and thus using cheaper and more sustainable treatment methods; and incorporation of robust adaptation strategies for climate change into maintenance and repair planning.

The work will lead to more considered vegetation management and remedial schemes, and allow incorporation of adaptation to climate change into design, maintenance and repair regimes. This will bring about better prioritization of maintenance and repair works and planning for the future resources and expenditure needed to keep assets in good condition, i.e. the development of a resilient 'all weather' system. The resulting improvements will lead to fewer speed restrictions and less delay, considerably aiding the smooth running of transport systems and maximimising future capacity. This will be of considerable benefit to the travelling public, both in economic terms and improvement to quality of life.

The proposed research programme will provide research training for a number of students, who will go on to employ those skills within the infrastructure and engineering sectors of the UK economy.

The impact of the research will be ensured through the involvement as Project Partners of all the main end users of the proposed work, including the asset owners Network Rail, London Underground, Highways Agency, NI Rail, NI Roads Service, and engineering consultants such as Mott MacDonald, Atkins, and Golder Associates. The research results will be communicated through 6-monthly steering meetings attended by the Project Partners, end of year reports, short briefing notes, and posting and sharing field monitoring and modelling results data via a dedicated website. Project partners will report on how the results and methods have been incorporated into their practice and to quantify the financial benefits of doing so. Furthermore, the Partners will be asked to review regularly the impact plan and suggest modificactions to both the plan and the research where necessary to maximise impact.

Interaction with a wider range of stakeholders, including other academics working in similar areas, will be via two dedicated CLIFFS workshops (CLIFFS is an existing network of people interested in climate and slope stability, and includes academics, infrastructure owners, engineering consultants, local authorities, and climate change experts). Engagement is designed both to disseminate initial results and findings as they are developed over the life of the project, and to produce clear scientific guidance and improved models at the end of the project for take up by Project Partners. Additionally, the final project outcomes will be written into a technical report, and published as journal papers.

All of the main Project Partners have been formal partners on, or indeed have directly funded, previous research in both this and other areas at the collaborating Universities. In most cases, the links between Project Partners and the investigators are long-standing. These relationships are important to both the ability of the project team to conduct the research (for example, enabling access to monitoring sites, assistance with fulfilling health and safety requirements), and to ensure the relevance and take up of the results into infrastructure asset management practice and statutory reporting.