Output details

Effects of climate change on cycles of wetting and drying in engineered clay slopes in England

Significance of output:

The UK road and railway systems have 20,000km of earth structures; £20bn of major highways infrastructure is earthworks. Slope instability is a safety hazard especially from shrink-swell in clays. Derailment from slope failures is the greatest risk faced by the railway infrastructure. A £200K EPSRC ROPA grant funded long term monitoring of embankments; the research shows that exceptionally dry summers in 2003 and 2005 are likely to match expected the average conditions later in the 21st century, causing exacerbated cycles of soil wetting-drying. The work is being used by Network Rail in planning and design for embankment rehabilitation. http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/docserver/fulltext/ensu162-081.html?expires=1336488233&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4D6B9AE37453B626242C68606BCA74A2 http://www.sr2.soton.ac.uk/infrastructure.htm