Investigating embankments and cuttings
The University of Southampton’s expertise in research into road and rail infrastructure has been recognised with a further grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The £340,000 grant will enable work to continue into the sustainable management and resilience of road and rail embankment and cuttings by Professor William Powrie, Dr Derek Clarke, Dr Joel Smethurst and colleagues from Southampton's Infrastructure Group and Water and Environment Group.
"Extreme weather such as heavy rain or drought can cause movement in the slopes of embankments and cuttings," explains Joel. "With the aid of our project partners, we have installed sensors in slopes around the country to find out what is happening, then we analyse the data to understand why and when movements occur." In the south, the team has been working on a slope forming the A34 Newbury by-pass and a railway embankment near Southend-on-Sea for more than ten years.
The iSMART: Infrastructure slopes: sustainable management and resilience assessment project is led by the University of Newcastle and also involves the Universities of Loughborough, Queens (Belfast) and Durham and the British Geological Survey.