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⏩ The outcomes of the experiments will constitute a benchmark for the calibration of advanced numerical tools in predicting the performance of the CIs. The outcomes of the project may provide meaningful geotechnical insights in the flood risk assessment of earth structures.

♻️ During the fourth cycle, an instability of the landside slope was triggered due to the progressive rise in pore water pressures. Data collected contributed to a deeper understanding of the effect of hydraulic loadings on the performance of unsaturated river embankments.

Corresponding to the collapse, the LVDTs showed a sudden increase of the vertical displacement. In the second test, following a superficial sliding of the riverside and landside slopes a series of hydrometric peaks and drawdowns was imposed.

⚠️ During the first test, as soon as a steady-state flow regime in equilibrium with a hydrometric peak of about 70% of the embankment height was reached, a failure of the landside slope occurred.

The sensors closer to the riverside of the embankment instantly showed water level changes. Tensiometers along the central alignment and landside were influenced by the advancement of the phreatic surface with a delay, due to the hydraulic & retention properties of the earthfill.

🔬 For both tests, all the pressure sensors registered a similar initial suction, which progressively tended to increase, during the spin-up of the model and the subsequent self-weight equilibrium stage, due to evapo-transpiration phenomena.

To properly address the pressure on such critical infrastructure (CI), two centrifuge tests have been performed under the enhanced gravity field of 50 g, by imposing different hydraulic loading histories, with the scope of reproducing specific flow scenarios.

🔎 The research study has been carried out on a small-scale embankment model, reconstructed with natural silty sand, overlying a fine-grained foundation layer, to be representative for the water-retaining earth systems of the Alpine and Apennine tributaries of the main river Po.

🗣️ RES FLUCTIS project, carried out in the University of Cambridge’s Schofield Centre, aims at investigating by centrifuge modelling the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated river embankments subjected to flood events, up to failure conditions.

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In unsaturated soils, the measured pile capacity was approximately double that in fully saturated soils. These results also align well with recently proposed analytical methods.

📏 The centrifuge tests carried out demonstrated that piled foundations perform better in partially saturated soils than in fully saturated conditions, which are traditionally assumed in design practice.

The understanding of soil-structure interaction under partially saturated soil conditions will serve as the first step to investigate the resilience of piled foundations under changing environmental conditions due to seasonal variation of the ground water table and climate change.

⬆️ impact is linked to the validation of design methods and numerical models that would allow a design optimisation and a better understanding of the effects unsaturated soils have on pile performance during the life of the Critical Infrastructures.

The comprehensive knowledge of the soil-structure interaction under partially saturated soil conditions is the first step to evaluate the resilience of these geotechnical structures under the change of the environmental conditions due to climate change.

🎯 aims at an in-depth understanding of the soil-pile interaction upon the combination of mechanical loads and environmental conditions, such as ground water table oscillations, via the combination of centrifuge testing and advanced numerical modelling.

🗣️ The project, carried out at University Gustave Eiffel, aims at investigating the interaction between solar panels pile foundations and partially saturated soils by providing high quality and well instrumented centrifuge tests results.

#criticalinfrastructure #research #geotechnics #geotechnicalengineering #climatechange #innovation #horizon2020.

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