ISMART

英国的交通基础设施是世界上使用最多的交通基础设施之一。伦敦的铁路网每天的客流量比法国的铁路网多50%; 15号和14号交叉口之间的M25号线每天运送165000辆车;伦敦地铁是欧洲最大的地铁。这些网络的性能主要取决于路堑和路堤边坡的性能，仅主要公路基础设施的600亿英镑资产价值中就有200亿英镑。这些斜坡大多年代久远，不稳定性高（随时间推移而增加）。我们的愿景是在一系列当前和未来环境情景下，基于对可再生材料和系统行为的基本理解，创建基础设施边坡瞬态水运动的可视化模型，可用于创建更可靠，更具成本效益，更安全和更可持续的交通系统。改善斜坡管理后，无论在直接经济或间接社会及经济方面，都将产生重大影响：计划维修费用减少10倍，并减少因斜坡倒塌而造成的延误。这一提议提供了一个独特的机会，可将6个学术机构联合起来，合并其实地、实验室和计算设施;我们将拥有大量博士生和经验丰富的利益相关者社区，承担世界领先的科学并创造长期的遗产。单独而言，本提案中的合作伙伴，与关键基础设施业主和工程公司合作，负责15个路堑边坡和边坡的测量，开发耦合水文和岩土效应的数值模型，以及开发实验室和现场测试，以提供填充这些模型的参数。这些研究有助于确定所面临问题的类型，并开始了解天气、土壤和植被之间的一些相互作用。然而，还需要进一步研究，以便更好地了解物质行为（特别是土壤、水、空气和植被的复合行为）;斜坡系统行为（特别是物质性质的时间和空间变化的影响）以及与环境影响和工程性能的关系。此外，迄今为止，还不可能将材料和斜坡特性与基础设施网络的特性结合起来，对于基础设施斜坡的可持续管理（评估、规划、维修、维护和适应）来说，重要的是要有能够评估基础设施斜坡现在和将来可能的工程性能的模型。最近的模式开发已开始考虑天气模式的输入，因此可以模拟未来气候的潜在影响。然而，很明显，这些模型对许多物理过程和性质的结合方式很敏感，其中许多是复杂的，难以直接量化。需要更好地了解土方工程、植被和气候之间的相互作用，以制定关于应采用哪些维护方法以及如何应用这些方法的强有力的指导。iSMART将结合实地测量、实验室测试以及概念和数值模型的开发，调查上述不确定性和知识差距，并可视化随着时间和空间的推移而发生的复杂相互作用。这些知识将有助于英国交通基础设施的管理人员识别问题站点，规划和优先考虑维护活动，并制定评估和适应策略，以确保岩土交通基础设施的未来安全性和弹性。

The UK's transport infrastructure is one of the most heavily used in the world. The rail network takes 50% more daily traffic than the French network; the M25 between junctions 15 and 14 carries 165000 vehicles daily; London Underground is Europe's largest subway. The performance of these networks is critically dependent on the performance of cutting and embankment slopes which make up £20B of the £60B asset value of major highway infrastructure alone. Many of these slopes are old and suffering high incidents of instability (increasing with time). Our vision is to create a visualised model of transient water movement in infrastructure slopes under a range of current and future environmental scenarios, based on a fundamental understanding of earthwork material and system behaviour, which can be used to create a more reliable, cost effective, safer and more sustainable transport system. The impact of the improved slope management will be highly significant in both direct economic and indirect social and economic terms: planned maintenance costs 10 times less and reduces delays caused by slope failure. This proposal offers a unique opportunity to unite 6 academic institutions and coalesce their field, laboratory and computing facilities; with a large cohort of PhD students and experienced stakeholder community we will undertake world leading science and create a long-term legacy.Individually, the partners in this proposal, in collaboration with key infrastructure owners and engineering companies, have been responsible for the instrumentation of 15 cut slopes and embankments, the development of numerical models which couple hydrological and geotechnical effects, and the development of laboratory and filed testing to provide parameters to populate these models. These studies have helped to define the type of problem that is being faced and begin to understand some of the interactions between weather, soil and vegetation. However, further research is required in order to better understand material behaviour (particularly the composite behaviour of soil, water, air and vegetation); slope system behaviour (particularly the effects of temporal and spatial variations of material properties) and the relationships with environmental effects and engineering performance. Furthermore, the integration of the material and slope behaviour with that of the behaviour of the infrastructure network as a whole has thus far not been possible.It is important for the sustainable management of infrastructure slopes (assessment, planning, repair, maintenance and adaptation) to have models that can assess the likely engineering performance of infrastructure slopes, both now and in the future. Recent model development has started to consider the input of weather patterns, and can therefore model the potential effects of future climate. However it has become clear that these models are sensitive to the way in which a number of the physical processes and properties are incorporated, many of which are complex and difficult to quantify directly. A better understanding of the interactions between earthworks, vegetation and climate is required to formulate robust guidance on which maintenance approaches should be adopted and how they should be applied. iSMART will use a combination of field measurements, lab testing and development of conceptual and numerical models to investigate the uncertainties and knowledge gaps enumerated above and to visualise the complex interactions taking place over time and space. This knowledge will help the managers of the UK's transport infrastructure to identify problem sites, plan and prioritise maintenance activity, and develop assessment and adaptation strategies to ensure future safety and resilience of geotechnical transport infrastructure.