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CLIFFS launch meeting 26 October 2005, Holywell Park, Loughborough University BIOLOGICAL AND...
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Transcript of CLIFFS launch meeting 26 October 2005, Holywell Park, Loughborough University BIOLOGICAL AND...
CLIFFS launch meeting26 October 2005, Holywell Park, Loughborough University
BIOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON
SLOPES (BIONICS)
Stephanie GlendinningStephanie Glendinning
BIONICS
• Overview of project
• Information/research needs addressed
• Information/research needs identified
BIONICS - BACKGROUND
• Earthworks slopes constitute major part of the infrastructure asset
(£20B of a total £60B for highways alone)
• Failures cost significant £
(£50m for highway maintenance in 1988/9)
• Maintenance costs a fraction of emergency repairs
(£emergency = 10 x maintenance)
• Climate change predicts:
• Hotter, drier summers
shrinkage, cracking, loss of vegetation
• Followed by:
• More intense periods of rainfall
swelling, infiltration, increased
water pressure, erosion, (flooding)
THE PROBLEM!
STAKEHOLDERS & FUNDING• 11 industrial partners, including
– Network Rail
– Railway Safety and Standards Board
– Metronet Rail SSL (London Underground)
– Highways Agency
– British Waterways
• 6 Universities
• £1.1m project; £900k from EPSRC through BKCC
Stakeholder Uncertainties and Information Needs
• Prediction, planning and preparation
or
• What, when and how?
• Cost
AIMS OF BIONICS
1. Establish a world-class facility for engineering
and biological research
2. Improve basic understanding of the effects of
climate on slopes
3. Improve modelling capability to examine long-
term impacts
ENGINEERING OVERVIEW
• Construct an embankment 90m long, 6m high, with
climate control
• Simulate road and rail construction
• Monitor biological, hydrological and geotechnical
conditions and their interaction
• Produce a database of performance data
EMBANKMENT DESIGNEMBANKMENT DESIGN
5m
29 m
2
1
6m
Plastic lining into draining channel
0.5m topsoil
RAINFALL SIMULATION
MODELLING OVERVIEW
• Produce a ‘hybrid’ computer model for design and
prediction
• Validate against data from:
– The embankment
– Centrifuge models and
– ‘Real’ slopes
• Develop a methodology to identify ‘at risk’ sections of the
infrastructure
INFORMATION/RESEARCH NEEDS ADDRESSED
• Test facility with known subsurface and history
• Climate control
• Up-to-date climate scenarios
• Modelling to look at long term, mechanisms, influence of soil type, construction method, age etc
• Cross-disciplinary academic collaboration
• Some Stakeholder-defined aims and deliverables
INFORMATION/RESEARCH NEEDS IDENTIFIED
Stakeholder:• Lack of information about the networks
(historical and current)• Lack of ‘higher-level’ engagement• Insufficient resources
Research:• Need to incorporate more complex soil models• Need to be less guarded with research – more
collaboration required
For more information…….
• www.ncl.ac.uk/bionics