Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements

Challenging, problematic and non-uniform ground conditions are a night mare to geotechnical engineers tasked with the design and construction of buildings and transport infrastructure. These often suffer undesirable structural settlements. Designing within the current understanding of geotechnics; s...

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Main Authors: Ratha, N., Ismail, T. N. H. T., Wijeyesekera, D. C., Bakar, I., Siang, A. J. L. M., Abu Talib, M. K., Zainorabidin, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/1/AJ%202018%20%2826%29.pdf
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author Ratha, N.
Ismail, T. N. H. T.
Wijeyesekera, D. C.
Bakar, I.
Siang, A. J. L. M.
Abu Talib, M. K.
Zainorabidin, A.
author_facet Ratha, N.
Ismail, T. N. H. T.
Wijeyesekera, D. C.
Bakar, I.
Siang, A. J. L. M.
Abu Talib, M. K.
Zainorabidin, A.
author_sort Ratha, N.
building UTHM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Challenging, problematic and non-uniform ground conditions are a night mare to geotechnical engineers tasked with the design and construction of buildings and transport infrastructure. These often suffer undesirable structural settlements. Designing within the current understanding of geotechnics; settlement in peat and organic soils need to be recognised to include the known “primary and secondary consolidation characteristics” and the lesser known “tertiary consolidation phase”. These eventually contribute cumulatively to the consequential uneven and hazardous “bumpy road” surfaces. Undulating flexible road pavements result primarily from the transference of the heavy self-weight of the embankment fill to yielding and non-uniform subgrade. The adoption of conventional design/repair methods such as pile, vertical drain, soil replacement and soil stabilisation are expensive and inappropriate in very soft ground conditions. These then lead to unjustifiably high and repetitive maintenance costs. There being no one quick fix solution for all; pragmatic research must necessarily identify the best/progressively improved practical and sustainable solution. A viable solution is to develop criteria and explore the concept of a “masonry arch bridge structure/lintel-column structure” and adopting sustainable materials through pragmatic searching for appropriate recyclable waste materials. This will lead to the basis for a sustainable, innovative, strong, stiff, permeable composite mat structure that can be used on soft and/or yielding ground conditions. Conceptual lightweight fill technology including the popularly used expanded polystyrene (EPS) and the innovative composite mats recently being developed by the research team are outlined.
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spelling uthm-38212021-11-22T03:57:54Z http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/ Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements Ratha, N. Ismail, T. N. H. T. Wijeyesekera, D. C. Bakar, I. Siang, A. J. L. M. Abu Talib, M. K. Zainorabidin, A. TA166-167 Human engineering Challenging, problematic and non-uniform ground conditions are a night mare to geotechnical engineers tasked with the design and construction of buildings and transport infrastructure. These often suffer undesirable structural settlements. Designing within the current understanding of geotechnics; settlement in peat and organic soils need to be recognised to include the known “primary and secondary consolidation characteristics” and the lesser known “tertiary consolidation phase”. These eventually contribute cumulatively to the consequential uneven and hazardous “bumpy road” surfaces. Undulating flexible road pavements result primarily from the transference of the heavy self-weight of the embankment fill to yielding and non-uniform subgrade. The adoption of conventional design/repair methods such as pile, vertical drain, soil replacement and soil stabilisation are expensive and inappropriate in very soft ground conditions. These then lead to unjustifiably high and repetitive maintenance costs. There being no one quick fix solution for all; pragmatic research must necessarily identify the best/progressively improved practical and sustainable solution. A viable solution is to develop criteria and explore the concept of a “masonry arch bridge structure/lintel-column structure” and adopting sustainable materials through pragmatic searching for appropriate recyclable waste materials. This will lead to the basis for a sustainable, innovative, strong, stiff, permeable composite mat structure that can be used on soft and/or yielding ground conditions. Conceptual lightweight fill technology including the popularly used expanded polystyrene (EPS) and the innovative composite mats recently being developed by the research team are outlined. IOP Publishing 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/1/AJ%202018%20%2826%29.pdf Ratha, N. and Ismail, T. N. H. T. and Wijeyesekera, D. C. and Bakar, I. and Siang, A. J. L. M. and Abu Talib, M. K. and Zainorabidin, A. (2018) Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1049. pp. 1-7. ISSN 1742-6596 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1049/1/012046
spellingShingle TA166-167 Human engineering
Ratha, N.
Ismail, T. N. H. T.
Wijeyesekera, D. C.
Bakar, I.
Siang, A. J. L. M.
Abu Talib, M. K.
Zainorabidin, A.
Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title_full Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title_fullStr Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title_full_unstemmed Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title_short Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
title_sort developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements
topic TA166-167 Human engineering
url http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3821/1/AJ%202018%20%2826%29.pdf