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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Peter Helm, Dr Paul Hughes, Dr Ross StirlingORCiD, Professor Stephanie Glendinning
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Clay embankments used for road, rail and, flood defense infrastructure experience a suite of weather-driven deterioration processes that lead to a progressive loss of hydromechanical performance: micro-scale deformation (e.g., aggregation and desiccation), changes in soil-water retention, loss of strength, and macro-scale deformation. The objective of this study was to develop a numerical modeling approach to simulate the construction and long-term, weather-driven hydromechanical behavior of clay embankments. Subroutines within a numerical modeling package were developed to capture deterioration processes: (1) strength reduction due to wet-dry cycles; (2) bimodality of the near-surface hydraulic behavior; (3) soil-water and soil-gas retentivity functions considering void ratio dependency; and (4) hydraulic and gas conductivity functions considering void ratio dependency. Uniquely, the modeling approach was comprehensively validated using laboratory tests and nine years of field measurements from a full-scale embankment. The modeling approach captured the variation of near-surface soil moisture and matric suction over the monitored period in response to weather cycles. Further, the developed model approach could successfully simulate weather-driven deterioration processes in clay embankments. The model predictions manifested the ability of the modeling approach in capturing deterioration features such as irrecoverable increase in void ratio and hydraulic permeability near surface. The developed and validated numerical modeling approach enables forecasting of the long-term performance of clay embankments under a range of projected climate conditions.
Author(s): Morsy A, Helm P, El-Hamalawi A, Smith A, Hughes P, Stirling R, Dijkstra T, Dixon N, Glendinning S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Year: 2023
Volume: 149
Issue: 8
Print publication date: 01/08/2023
Online publication date: 07/06/2023
Acceptance date: 15/02/2023
Date deposited: 20/02/2023
ISSN (print): 1090-0241
ISSN (electronic): 1943-5606
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
URL: https://doi.org/10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-11213
DOI: 10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-11213
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/wst8-ax41
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