Soil-mycelia systems for slope stabilisation

众所周知，在英国和全球范围内，强降雨是引发浅层滑坡和滑坡的原因。随着水渗入部分饱和土体，孔隙水压力增大，土体抗剪强度降低。在全球范围内，每年由降雨引发的致命山体滑坡多达350起，造成数千人死亡。在英国，在强降雨期间，每月记录的滑坡和滑坡多达80起。这些事件对交通网络造成重大破坏，并产生一系列经济和社会影响。实施紧急维修的直接成本是巨大的：2016/17年度铁路网络的日常维护成本为1.54亿英镑，紧急维修的成本可能是维护工程成本的100倍。对天然山坡实施补救措施的成本也很高，例如，2007年至2019年期间，苏格兰运输部在苏格兰A83公路沿线的“休息与感恩”站点花费了1330万英镑。英国气候预测预测，冬季将更温暖、更潮湿，夏季将更炎热、更干燥，冬季降雨量将增加，降雨强度将显著增加。我们不断变化的气候将进一步影响英国自然和工程斜坡的稳定性，推动对其管理和维护的新方法的需求。该奖学金项目的重点是开发一系列低成本、低碳的最小干预地面工程技术，这些技术模仿自然生态系统中真菌菌丝体的生长。这个项目将研究丝状真菌，菌丝生长的真菌（管状结构）。真菌菌丝的集合体称为菌丝。当菌丝体在土壤中生长时，它形成了一种天然的土工布，在它的网格内缠绕土壤颗粒。菌丝体还分泌生化产物，可以改变土壤的润湿性，并有助于将土壤颗粒“粘”在一起。这项研究的目的是开发五种真菌生物技术，这些技术可以通过各种机制增强边坡的稳定性，包括：(1)减少水渗透；(2)增强土壤凝聚力和对表面侵蚀的抵抗力；(3)提供抗拉加固。这些真菌生物技术将基于工程五种不同结构的土壤-菌丝系统。这些土壤-菌丝系统的水力学性能将通过控制养分供应和定位来优化菌丝生长。该奖学金将使土壤-菌丝体系统的性能从实验室规模到现场规模的地面工程系统演示。在斯特拉斯克莱德建立一支国际领先的生物岩土工程研究团队，将为这一雄心勃勃、冒险的研究项目提供支持。提出的真菌生物技术可以将地面工程方法转变为边坡稳定。有了“种植”土壤改良剂的能力，就有机会处理更大量的土壤；这些技术可用于在流域范围内缓解滑坡、改善工程基础设施的复原力、控制侵蚀和荒漠化。

Heavy rainfall is a well-known trigger of shallow landslides and slope failures in the UK and globally. As water infiltrates into partially saturated soil, pore water pressures increase and the shear strength of the soil reduces. Globally, up to 350 fatal landslides are triggered by rainfall each year causing thousands of deaths. In the UK up to 80 landslides and slope failures are recorded per month during periods of heavy rainfall. These events cause major disruption to transport networks with a range of economic and social impacts. The direct costs of implementing emergency repairs are substantial: the cost of routine maintenance of the rail network in 2016/17 was £154M and emergency repairs can cost 100 times the cost of maintenance works. The cost of implementing remedial measures for natural hillslopes is also substantial, e.g. Transport Scotland spent £13.3M at the Rest & Be Thankful site along the A83 in Scotland between 2007-2019. UK climate projections predict warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers with increasing winter rainfall and significant increases in rainfall intensity. Our changing climate will further impact on the stability of natural and engineered slopes in the UK, driving the need for novel approaches for their management and maintenance.This fellowship programme focuses on the development of a range of low-cost, low-carbon minimal intervention ground engineering technologies which mimick the growth of fungal mycelia that occurs in natural ecosystems. This project will investigate filamentous fungi, fungi that grow as hyphae (tube-like structures). The collective mass of hyphae of a fungus is known as the mycelium. As the mycelium grows through the soil, it forms a natural geotextile, entangling soil particles within its mesh. The mycelium also secretes biochemical products, which can alter the wettability of soils and contribute to 'gluing' soil particles together. The aim of this fellowship is to develop five fungal biotechnologies which can enhance slope stability via various mechanisms including: (i) reducing water infiltration (ii) enhancing soil cohesion and resistance to surface erosion and (iii) providing tensile reinforcement. These fungal biotechnologies will be based on engineering five types of soil-mycelia systems with differing architecture. The hydro-mechanical performance of these soil-mycelia systems will be optimised by controlling nutrient supply and positioning to orient mycelium growth. This fellowship will enable a systematic demonstration of the performance of soil-mycelia systems for ground engineering from lab-scale to field-scale.This ambitious and adventurous programme of research will be underpinned by the creation of an internationally-leading research team at Strathclyde in this novel avenue of biogeotechnical engineering. The proposed fungal biotechnologies could transform ground engineering approaches to slope stabilisation. With the ability to 'grow' soil modification comes the opportunity to treat far greater volumes of soil; these technologies could be deployed for landslide mitigation on a catchment-scale, for improved resilience of engineered infrastructure, for erosion control and desertification.