Walker, C and Heitor, A orcid.org/0000-0002-2346-8250 (2024) Study of the Impact of Wetting Processes on Transport Infrastructure Performance. In: Toll, D.G. and Winter, M.G., (eds.) Geo-Resilience 2023: Proceedings of the Geo-Resilience 2023 Conference. Geo-Resilience 2023, 28-29 Mar 2023, Cardiff, UK. British Geotechnical Association (BGA) , London, UK
Abstract
Extreme weather events attributed to climate change have been gradually causing engineered soils to experience larger and more frequent variations between unsaturated and saturated states by periodically changing their moisture and suction due to wetting (rainfall) and drying (evaporation). Geotechnical assets critical to the transport network are particularly vulnerable to the influence of these climatic conditions due to its impact on their performance including swelling, shrinkage and collapse. However, the implementation of unsaturated soil behaviour into practice is not commonplace despite its importance for increasing resilience of the transport network. This paper addresses the impact of wetting processes, mimicking periods of intense rainfall, on the performance of a typical Victorian rail embankment asset using the Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) implemented in a finite element platform (PLAXIS 2D). The embankment was subject to the simulation of increasing degrees of saturation followed by the application of rail traffic to investigate their effect on performance and serviceability. The transition between unsaturated and saturated conditions during the wetting process was shown to produce significant swelling and strength changes which were exacerbated by increased wetting owing to climate change. Settlement due the application of train loads similarly increased in future scenarios. The results not only demonstrate the importance of considering unsaturated modelling conditions when managing geotechnical assets but also its role in better accounting for the effects of climate change.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This is an author produced version of a conference paper published in Geo-Resilience 2023: Proceedings of the Geo-Resilience 2023 Conference, Cardiff University, 28-29th March 2023. |
Keywords: | Unsaturated soils, Transport infrastructure, Geostructures, Climate change |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 30 Jan 2023 11:58 |
Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2024 12:30 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | British Geotechnical Association (BGA) |
Identification Number: | 10.53243/Geo-Resilience-2023-3-4 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195686 |