Soil impacts on UK infrastructure: current and future climate

Pritchard, Oliver; Hallett, Stephen R; Farewell, Timothy S.

doi:10.1680/ensu.13.00035

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…GB infrastructure represents extremely complex networks that are aging, some assets reported as being >100 years in age, and which are constructed from a range of materials. Consequently, networks are susceptible to climate change and geohazards, further exacerbated by increasing public demand (Pritchard et al 2014). Moreover, the increasing interconnection and spatial proximity of networks can mean failure of a particular infrastructure asset leading to failure(s) in another (Rogers et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probabilistic soil moisture projections to assess Great Britain’s future clay-related subsidence hazard

2015

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Clay-related subsidence is Great Britain's (GB) most damaging soil-related geohazard, costing the economy up to £500 million per annum. Soil-related geohazard models based on mineralogy and potential soil moisture deficit (PSMD) derived from historic weather data have been used in risk management since the 1990s. United Kingdom Climate Projections (UKCP09) suggest that regions of GB will experience hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters through to 2050. As a result, PSMD fluctuations are expected to increase, exacerbating the shrinkage and swelling of clay soils. A forward-looking approach is now required to mitigate the impacts of future climate on GB's built environment. We present a framework for incorporating probabilistic projections of PSMD, derived from a version of the UKCP09 stochastic weather generator, into a clay subsidence model. This provides a novel, national-scale thematic model of the likelihood of clay-related subsidence, related to the top 1-1.5 m soil layer, for three time periods; baseline (1961-1990), 2030 (2020-2049) and 2050 (2040-2069). Results indicate that much of GB, with the exception of upland areas, will witness significantly higher PSMDs through to the 2050s. As a result, some areas with swelling clay soils will be subject to proportionately increased subsidence hazard. South-east England will likely incur the highest hazard exposure to clay-related subsidence through to 2050. Potential impacts include increased incidence of property foundation subsidence, alongside deterioration and increased failure rates of GB's infrastructure networks. Future clay-subsidence hazard scenarios are beneficial to many sectors, including: finance, central and local government, residential property markets, utilities and infrastructure operators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probabilistic soil moisture projections to assess Great Britain’s future clay-related subsidence hazard

2015

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“…Corrosion occurs at the place where the current is discharged from the metal to the ground in the anodic areas. In the cathodic zones, the flow of current goes from the ground to the metallic structure, keeping the construction protected [35]. In the anodic area of the structure, the anodic reaction occurs and produces the loss of metal ions, that is, the corrosion of the metal.…”

Section: Corrosion In Buried Metal Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods to Evaluate Corrosion in Buried Steel Structures: A Review

Arriba-Rodriguez

Balsera

Fernández

et al. 2018

Metals

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Around the world, there are thousands of metal structures completely or partially buried in the soil. The main concern in their design is corrosion. Corrosion is a mechanism that degrades materials and causes structural failures in infrastructures, which can lead to severe effects on the environment and have direct impact on the population health. In addition, corrosion is extremely complex in the underground environment due to the variability of the local conditions. The problem is that there are many methods to its evaluation but none have been clearly established. In order to ensure the useful life of such structures, engineers usually consider an excess thickness that increases the economic cost of manufacturing and does not satisfy the principles of efficiency in the use of resources. In this paper, an extended revision of the existing methods to evaluate corrosion is carried out to optimize the design of buried steel structures according to their service life. Thus, they are classified into two categories depending on the information they provide: qualitative and quantitative methods. As a result, it is concluded that the most exhaustive methodologies for estimating soil corrosion are quantitative methods fed by non-electrochemical data based on experimental studies that measure the mass loss of structures.

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“…Monitoring the structural condition of infrastructure networks is essential to National soil maps, such as the one used in this study [21], often estimate ground movements based on the laboratory assessment of clay soils' volumetric change potential. Such categorical maps are widely used by utilities, with classes such as "high" and "low" ground movement potential [22]. Quantification of the vertical movement of soils is difficult due to numerous external factors (vegetation, agriculture, erosion etc.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the Response of Roads and Railways to Seasonal Soil Movement with Persistent Scatterers Interferometry over Six UK Sites

et al. 2017

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Road and rail networks provide critical support for society, yet they can be degraded by seasonal soil movements. Currently, few transport network operators monitor small-scale soil movement, but understanding the conditions contributing to infrastructure failure can improve network resilience. Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) is a remote sensing technique offering the potential for near real-time ground movement monitoring over wide areas. This study tests the use of PSI for monitoring the response of major roads, minor roads, and railways to ground movement across six study sites in England, using Sentinel 1 data in VV polarisation in ascending orbit. Some soils are more stable than others-a national soil map was used to quantify the relationships between infrastructure movement and major soil groups. Vertical movement of transport infrastructure is a function of engineering design, soil properties, and traffic loading. Roads and railways built on soil groups prone to seasonal water-logging (Ground-water Gley soils, Surface-water Gley soils, Pelosols, and Brown soils) demonstrated seasonal subsidence and heave, associated with an increased risk of infrastructure degradation. Roads and railways over Podzolic soils demonstrated relative stability. Railways on Peat soils exhibited the most extreme continual subsidence of up to 7.5 mm year −1 . Limitations of this study include the short observation period (~13 months, due to satellite data availability) and the regional scale of the soil map-mapping units contain multiple soil types with different ground movement potentials. Future use of a higher resolution soil map over a longer period will advance this research. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates the viability of PSI as a technique for measuring both seasonal soil-related ground movement and the associated impacts on road and rail infrastructure.

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Soil impacts on UK infrastructure: current and future climate

Cited by 24 publications

References 60 publications

Probabilistic soil moisture projections to assess Great Britain’s future clay-related subsidence hazard

Probabilistic soil moisture projections to assess Great Britain’s future clay-related subsidence hazard

Methods to Evaluate Corrosion in Buried Steel Structures: A Review

Monitoring the Response of Roads and Railways to Seasonal Soil Movement with Persistent Scatterers Interferometry over Six UK Sites

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