Rooting for sustainable performance
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Paul Hughes (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Smethurst J
(2017)
Current and future role of instrumentation and monitoring in the performance of transport infrastructure slopes
in Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
| Description | Results from this project demonstrate the potential of using natural vegetation to improve the stability of engineered slopes (transportation embankments and cuttings). The addition of plant roots improves the tensile strength of the soils these earth structures are constructed from and also remove water from the slopes through evapotranspiration. By carefully managing the vegetation present on a slope it may be possible to achieve more stable embankments without the use of expensive "hard" engineering solutions (such as concrete retaining walls). This reduces costs and has a lower environmental impact than traditional techniques. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings from this work can be taken forward by conducting instrumented field trials on infrastructure sites. This would confirm the effectiveness of the techniques developed in real world conditions and provide insights into any challenges to implementation that may arise on working infrastructure. |
| Sectors | Construction |
| Description | Findings from this work have provided evidence for the benefit of using vegetation to improve the stability of engineered slopes for infrastructure. Whilst it has long been known that vegetation roots can provide additional tensile strength to the ground and can reduce the water content of the soil the slopes are composed of, it has been difficult to use vegetation stabilisation in design of real earth structures (cuttings and embankments) due to the benefits being difficult to quantify. This research has improved our understanding of how much stability is improved by vegetation and how reliable this improvement is. As such the findings will help to provide a more reliable approach to vegetation slope stabilisation design. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Transport |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | EPSRC - Research Grant, Standard Research - NR1 |
| Amount | £218,232 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/R041903/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 04/2020 |
| Description | COST TU1202 Impacts of climate change on engineered slopes for infrastructure |
| Organisation | European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Participation at slope stability workshops. Mentoring of early stage researchers |
| Collaborator Contribution | Financial contribution from EU. |
| Impact | Four sate of the art papers on slope stability and climate change published in QJEG&H. Numerous conference publications published by members of the network. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Schools Outreach (EDT Headstart) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Overall aim of the 4 day residential course is to encourage A level students to study STEM subjects at UK universities. As part of this course a lecture was given on geotechnical engineering and in particular the use of vegetation in the stabilisation of infrastructure slopes. Students attending the lecture engaged in a question and discussion session after the lecture. A number of the students declared an increased interest in the use of natural materials in engineering after the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017 |