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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Jonathon Chambers, Dr Paul Wilkinson, Dr Jessica HolmesORCiD, Dr Ross StirlingORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Robust and timely assessment of the condition of geotechnical infrastructure assets (e.g. cuttings,embankments, dams) is essential for cost effective maintenance and engineering interventions toprevent failure events. Infrastructure slopes (in transportation, utilities and water management)are experiencing increasingly high levels of failure and require considerable resources to maintain;in the order of hundreds of millions of pounds per year in the UK alone. The issue of acceleratingasset deterioration is being exacerbated by the greater prevalence of extreme weather events.Conventional monitoring techniques are still dominated by surface observations, which provideinfrequent information and deliver very few insights into subsurface deterioration processeswhich typically precede surface expressions of deterioration. Here we describe the developmentof novel geoelectrical imaging technology to monitor and assess the internal condition ofinfrastructure slopes in four-dimensions. In particular, we outline a workflow in which time-lapsegeophysical models are used to inform estimates of soil moisture and suction distributions, andwe consider the challenges associated with the deployment of geophysical monitoring systems onoperational geotechnical assets. Examples are given from long-term field experiments ontransportation and water management earthworks. We propose that novel geophysicalmonitoring complements more traditional forms of asset assessment to significantly enhance theresilience of safety critical infrastructure through improved subsurface information provision anddecision support.
Author(s): Chambers J, Wilkinson P, Meldrum P, Kuras O, Swift R, Ngui J, White A, Cimpoiasu M, Harrison H, Maleki R, Boyd J, Dashwood B, Bruce E, Donohue S, Holmes J, Stirling R, Whiteley J, Binley A
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: EGU General Assembly 2024
Year of Conference: 2024
Pages: EGU24-15113
Online publication date: 09/03/2024
Acceptance date: 07/03/2024
Date deposited: 22/05/2024
URL: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15113
DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15113
