Effect of climate change on soil embankment stability

Leila Baninajarian, Ali Ghassemi, Tony Sangiuliano, Andrew DeSira, Rashid Bashir

Dans les comptes rendus d’articles de la conférence: GeoSt. John's 2019: 72nd Canadian Geotechnical Conference

Session: Unsaturated soil

ABSTRACT: Climate change is expected to increase the magnitude and frequency of extreme events as well as long-term changes in average climatic conditions. Highway embankments which are required to be operational over their long lifetime, are likely to experience instabilities as a result of these events. This paper presents a numerical investigation of the stability of embankments for historical and future storms in Ottawa. Hydrological assessments for two different soil types – sands and silts were carried out using unsaturated flow modeling. Soil-atmosphere modeling was used to evaluate the water balance at the ground surface of embankments to determine the pore water pressure distribution within the embankments. The results from the hydrological assessments were used in slope stability assessments using the limit equilibrium method. The results indicate that over the coming decades the likelihood of stability deterioration will increase substantially. The issue is more critical for embankments constructed with fine-grained materials.

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