Scour and erosion resistance in cohesive soils

这项拟议的工作包括一系列调查粘性土壤侵蚀的研究。粘性土壤是那些含有粘土的土壤，在自然界中普遍存在。对侵蚀的研究很重要，因为它可以在许多方面影响人。如果桥墩周围的水流侵蚀了它们赖以生存的土壤，桥梁可能会失效。堤坝、涵洞和堰可能会因为建筑物下游河床的侵蚀而不稳定。河岸的侵蚀可能会导致财产损失。需要预测侵蚀并试图减轻其负面影响，工程师必须能够评估特定土壤在什么条件下会受到侵蚀，侵蚀程度有多大。目前还没有可靠的方法来进行这些评估。拟议中的工作将集中在改进测量粘性土壤抗侵蚀能力的野外方法上。它还将用于更好地了解这些土壤中的侵蚀形式。第一项研究将用于量化侵蚀试验之间如果水流和土壤条件保持不变时可能出现的侵蚀变异性。第二项研究将着眼于通过包括土壤表面压力波动的影响来改进预测土壤侵蚀速度的模型。第三项研究将研究侵蚀形式如何随着土壤中粘土含量的不同而变化。最后，将进行实验，以评估地下水渗入土壤对侵蚀形式的影响以及侵蚀的速度。这些研究的结果将使工程师能够更好地设计和维护桥梁和大坝等关键基础设施。这最终将改善对公众的保护，使其免受这些结构的破坏，这具有社会效益和经济效益。

The proposed work consists of a number of studies that investigate erosion in cohesive soils.  Cohesive soils are those that contain clay and are prevalent in nature.  Study of erosion is important because it can affect people in many ways.  Bridges can fail if water flows around bridge piers erode away the soil on which they are founded.  Dams, culverts, and weirs can be destabilized by erosion of riverbeds downstream of the structures.  Erosion of riverbanks can result in loss of property.  To predict erosion and attempt to mitigate its negative impacts, engineers must be able to assess under what conditions a particular soil will erode and by how much.  For cohesive soils, there are currently no reliable methods to make these assessments.The proposed work will focus on improving field methods of measuring erosion resistance of cohesive soils.  It will also be used to develop a better understanding of the forms of erosion in these soils.  A first study will be used to quantify the variability in erosion that might be expected if flow and soil conditions are constant between erosion tests.  A second study will look at improving models for predicting how quickly the soil will erode by including the effects of pressure fluctuations on the soil surface.  A third study will investigate how the form of erosion changes with varied clay content in the soil.  Finally, experiments will be undertaken to evaluate how groundwater seeping through a soil effects the form of erosion and how quickly it erodes.The results of these studies should allow engineers to better design and maintain critical infrastructure such as bridges and dams.  This will ultimately improve the protection of the public from failure of these structures, which has both social and economic benefits.