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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Peter HelmORCiD, Professor Stephanie Glendinning
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Many cut slopes in the UK are in the later stages of their operational life but continue to support road and railtransportation networks. Some of these slopes experienced delayed, deep-seated, first-time failures between10 and 50 years after construction. However, some continue to seasonally deform and then fail at shallow depthdue to the process of seasonal, downslope ratcheting. This paper reviews the evidence for seasonally-induced,downslope ratcheting movements in clay cut slopes, gathered from physical model tests, in-situ monitoring andnumerical simulations. The evidence shows that seasonal ratcheting is an increasingly dominant mechanism ofslope deformation and ultimate failure for some high-plasticity clay cut slopes as they are exposed to manyseasonal weather cycles. The rate of downslope ratcheting depends on the slope age (i.e., number of seasonalweather cycles since construction), the slope geometry (i.e., slope height and angle) and the strain-softeningbehaviour of the slope material (e.g., as observed in stiff, high-plasticity clays). This rate, when measured, canbe used to inform monitoring and management strategies for old, clay cut slopes (e.g., ageing railway andhighway cuttings) by identifying the slopes that are prone to seasonally-induced, downslope ratcheting towardsthe end of their operational life.
Author(s): Briggs K, Trinidad Gonzalez Y, Morsy A, Smith A, El-Hamalawi A, Blake A, Smethurst J, Helm P, Glendinning S
Editor(s): Toll DG; Winter MG;
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: Geo-Resilience 2023
Year of Conference: 2023
Online publication date: 24/02/2024
Acceptance date: 28/03/2023
Publisher: British Geotechnical Association
URL: https://doi.org/10.53243/Geo-Resilience-2023-2-3
DOI: 10.53243/Geo-Resilience-2023-2-3
Notes: Session 2 - Resilience of Earthworks
