Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Elena Mugarza, Professor Stephanie Glendinning, Dr Ross StirlingORCiD, Dr Colin DavieORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Transport infrastructure slopes across the UK are vulnerable by their exposure to increasingly frequent inclement weather caused by climate change. Slope failures gain national press attention for the disruption they cause to essential transport links and the public expenditure required to repair and reinstate. Compacted clay soils, commonly used in the construction of embankments in the transport infrastructure sector, are subject to progressive deterioration caused by volumetric shrinking and swelling in response to wetting and drying cycles. Precipitation events in Britain are projected to increase in frequency and severity during the next decade with legacy earthworks (exceeding 80 years) enduring the effects of prolonged exposure to fluctuating weather cycles, reducing resilience of the infrastructure. They are also influenced by the prevailing construction method and design guidance of the age. The provision of slope drainage is a widely used mitigation technique used by transport infrastructure owner/operators facing slope stability challenges, and these are often retrofitted to legacy assets to capture and divert surface water. Effective drainage solutions should encompass a design that considers the slope globally; it’s composition, any pre-existing instability or deterioration mechanisms, preferential flow pathways into existing desiccation cracks etc. However, it is questionable whether design details are changeable in practice, to better suit the existing earthwork and drainage baseline condition. Drainage installation method and maintenance strategies are vital components in ensuring that the drain contributes to improved slope stability, rather than allowing deeper and faster propagation of wetting fronts, causing increased pore-water pressure at depth. This paper sets out to investigate the flow path of water within legacy slope drainage, the deterioration mechanisms of the drainage material and clays surrounding. This will be evaluated through field investigation of a historic rail cutting with existing counterfort drains in place. This research aims to review the likely condition of aged slope drainage that has been negated from a frequent maintenance schedule, the subsequent impact and risk posed to the surrounding earthwork. The information gained from this research should aid understanding of deterioration mechanisms to both the slope drainage and earthwork soils surrounding these and the works that are required to avoid such a loss in performance and maintain earthwork stability.
Author(s): Mugarza E, Glendinning S, Stirling R, Davie C
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering (CSEE 2025)
Year of Conference: 2025
Pages: 1-7
Online publication date: 15/04/2025
Acceptance date: 04/10/2024
Date deposited: 18/06/2025
URL: https://doi.org/10.11159/icgre25.119
DOI: 10.11159/icgre25.119
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/zasq-0d17
