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CLIFFS launch meeting 26 October 2005, Holywell Park, Loughborough University BIOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SLOPES (BIONICS) Stephanie 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 longterm 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 DESIGN 29 m 0.5m topsoil 5m 2 1 6m Plastic lining into draining channel 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