CAREER: From Pore to Pipe: A Multiscale Experimental and Numerical Study of Piping in Unsaturated Soil

职业：从孔隙到管道：非饱和土中管道的多尺度实验和数值研究

基本信息

批准号：
2047402
负责人：
Jack Montgomery
金额：
$ 53.18万
依托单位：
Auburn University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-08-01 至 2026-07-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047402&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Pore Pipe Multiscale Experimental

项目摘要

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award will explore the relationship between soil piping and rainfall-induced landslides in unsaturated soils. Piping occurs when flowing water erodes soil forming a conduit, or pipe, below the ground surface. Piping is one of the leading causes of failures of levees and dams, a major source of soil erosion worldwide, and can lead to the development of voids and sinkholes that may damage overlying infrastructure. The mechanics of piping remain poorly understood, hindering the development of methods to detect and monitor piping and methods to prevent failure or repair piping once it has begun. This project will develop a physics-based framework for assessing the development, progression, and consequences of soil piping through a multiscale program of experiments and numerical simulations. Improving the ability of engineers to detect and evaluate piping features will increase the resiliency of civil infrastructure to landslides and sinkholes, and help to reduce degradation of agricultural land and soil loss in hillslopes. This research will be integrated with an education and outreach program that seeks to increase interest and retention among traditionally underrepresented students in civil engineering. This will be accomplished through the creation of formal and informal educational activities, including educational modules for undergraduate and 7th-12th grade students and a citizen science-driven database of sinkholes and piping features. This project will also create a new course to train graduate students to effectively communicate their research to diverse audiences.The process of soil piping involves complex hydro-mechanical interactions that occur across multiple length scales. Researchers in various disciplines have studied different aspects of soil piping, but there is a need for a convergent research approach to bridge the current knowledge gaps. This project will fill this need by identifying the hydro-mechanical properties and interactions that control subsurface erosion in unsaturated soils. X-ray micro-CT imaging will be used to understand how the soil microstructure influences erosion rates and large-scale experiments will be performed to examine pipe progression and collapse at the mesoscale. Non-destructive geophysical imaging will be integrated with measurements of suction, water pressure, and surface deformations to understand the interactions between the pipe and surrounding soil over time. These experiments will provide the data needed to develop and validate coupled hydro-mechanical simulations of soil piping and its influence on stability of slopes. The analysis framework developed in this study will be applicable to many other piping-related problems across a variety of disciplines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该教师早期职业发展（职业）奖将探讨土壤管道与降雨引起的不饱和土壤中的滑坡之间的关系。当流水侵蚀地面以下的导管或管道的土壤时，会发生管道。管道是导致堤防和大坝失败的主要原因之一，堤坝和大坝是全球土壤侵蚀的主要来源，可以导致可能损害基础设施上层基础设施的空隙和污垢的发展。管道的机制仍然很少理解，阻碍了检测和监测管道的方法的开发，并在该管道开始后，以防止衰竭或修复管道。该项目将开发一个基于物理的框架，用于通过实验和数值模拟的多尺度计划评估土壤管道的发展，进步和后果。提高工程师检测和评估管道特征的能力将提高民用基础设施对滑坡和污垢的弹性，并有助于减少山坡上农业土地和土壤损失的退化。这项研究将与一项教育和外展计划集成，该计划试图增加传统代表性不足的土木工程学生的兴趣和保留率。这将通过创建正式和非正式的教育活动来实现，包括针对本科生和7至12年级的学生的教育模块以及公民科学驱动的污水处理和管道功能数据库。该项目还将创建一门新课程，以培训研究生，以有效地将其研究与不同的受众传达。土壤管道的过程涉及在多个长度尺度上发生的复杂的水力机械互动。各个学科的研究人员研究了土壤管道的不同方面，但是需要采用收敛的研究方法来弥合当前的知识差距。该项目将通过确定控制不饱和土壤中地下侵蚀的水力机械性能和相互作用来满足这种需求。 X射线微型CT成像将用于了解土壤微观结构如何影响侵蚀率和大规模实验，以检查中尺度的管道进展和塌陷。非破坏性地球物理成像将与抽吸，水压和表面变形的测量进行整合，以了解随着时间的推移，管道和周围土壤之间的相互作用。这些实验将提供开发和验证土壤管道耦合的水力力学模拟所需的数据及其对斜率稳定性的影响。本研究中开发的分析框架将适用于许多学科中许多其他与管道有关的问题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来提供支持。