Deformations of a highway embankment on degraded permafrost

Hamid Batenipour, Marolo Alfaro, Jim Graham, Ken Kalynuk

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: Climate Change & GeoHazards

ABSTRACT: Changes in temperature affect civil engineering infrastructure, particularly in areas with mean annual temperatures close to 0°C where permafrost is locally discontinuous. Climate warming and human activities can lead to increases in the temperature of permafrost and to thawing. In regions of discontinuous permafrost, thawing may produce thickening of the active layer, large settlements and non-recoverable shear deformations. The paper examines the behaviour of a highway embankment about 18 km northwest of Thompson, Manitoba. Research involves site investigation, instrumentation, laboratory testing, and numerical modeling. The paper reports data from the field instruments during the first two years of operation, that is, over two freeze-thaw cycles. Results provide insight into the nature and cause of the embankment deformations and mechanisms producing functional failure (serviceability limit state) of highways on degraded permafrost.

RESUMEN: Los cambios en la temperatura afectan las obras de Ingeniería Civil, particularmente en áreas con temperatura promedio cercana a 0°C donde el permafrost es localmente discontinuo. El calentamiento global y las acitividades humanas pueden llevar a incrementar la temperatura del permafrost y generar descongelamiento. En regiones de permafrost discontinuo, el descongelamiento puede ocasionar el incremento de la capa activa del permafrost, aumentar los asentamientos del suelo y crear deformaciones cortantes irrecuperables. Este artículo examina el comportamiento de un terraplén para una carretera localizado aproximadamente 18 km al noroeste de Thompson, Manitoba. La investigación involucra pruebas de campo, instrumentación, pruebas de laboratorio y modelamiento númerico. El artículo presenta resultados de monitoreo durante los dos primeros años de operación, es decir, durante dos ciclos de congelamiento/descongelamiento. Los resultados proveen una evaluación de las causas de la deformación de terraplenes y los mecanismos que producen la falla funcional (estados limites de servicio) de las carreteras construidas en permafrost degradado.

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Cite this article:
Hamid Batenipour; Marolo Alfaro; Jim Graham; Ken Kalynuk (2011) Deformations of a highway embankment on degraded permafrost in GEO2011. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GEO11Paper204,author = Hamid Batenipour; Marolo Alfaro; Jim Graham; Ken Kalynuk ,title = Deformations of a highway embankment on degraded permafrost ,year = 2011}