A broad diversity of biological organisms and systems interact with soil in ways that facilitate their growth and survival. These interactions are made possible by strategies that enable organisms to accomplish functions that can be analogous to those required in geotechnical engineering systems. Examples include anchorage in soft and weak ground, penetration into hard and stiff subsurface materials and movement in loose sand. Since the biological strategies have been ‘vetted’ by the process of natural selection, and the functions they accomplish are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, they represent a unique source of principles and design ideas for addressing geotechnical challenges. Prior to implementation as engineering solutions, however, the differences in spatial and temporal scales and material properties between the biological environment and engineered system must be addressed. Current bio-inspired geotechnics research is addressing topics such as soil excavation and penetration, soil–structure interface shearing, load transfer between foundation and anchorage elements and soils, and mass and thermal transport, having gained inspiration from organisms such as worms, clams, ants, termites, fish, snakes and plant roots. This work highlights the potential benefits to both geotechnical engineering through new or improved solutions and biology through understanding of mechanisms as a result of cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations.

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This paper presents a study on the effects of shearing velocity, surface roughness and overconsolidation ratio on the strength and deformation behaviour of fine-grained soil–structure interfaces. The results of shear box direct interface shear tests, augmented with soil deformation measurements from particle image velocimetry analyses, indicate that shearing velocity (i.e. velocity at which the continuum surface is displaced) has a controlling effect on the drainage conditions mobilised during shearing. As shearing velocity was increased, undrained conditions were progressively mobilised, characterised by smaller interface strength and volumetric changes for tests on normally consolidated specimens. Increases in shearing velocity resulted in increases in interface strength for overconsolidated specimens. The results presented herein indicate that, as the magnitude of surface roughness was increased, drained shearing conditions were favoured for a given shearing velocity. Soil deformation measurements indicate that the shear zone where localisation occurs becomes thicker as the surface roughness increases, and the magnitude of soil deformations decreases as shearing velocity is increased. The findings presented herein are relevant for prediction and interpretation of soil–structure interface behaviour, as well as for development of constitutive models that capture the combined effect of shear rate, surface roughness and stress history.

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