Bull, Daniel, Sinclair, Ian, Pierron, Fabrice, Roose, Tiina and Smethurst, Joel (2019) Understanding the mechanisms of root-reinforcement in soils: soil shear tests using X-ray computed tomography and digital volume correlation. E3S Web of Conferences, 92, [12009]. (doi:10.1051/e3sconf/20199212009).
Abstract
Soil containing plant roots may be expected to exhibit a greater shearing resistance compared with the same ‘unreinforced’ soil, providing enhanced stability and effective erosion control, particularly for earth slopes. To be able to rely on the improved shearing resistance and stiffness of root-reinforced soils, it is important to understand and quantify the effectiveness of root reinforcement. This requires sophisticated multiscale models, building understanding at different length scales, from individual soil-root interaction through to full soil-profile or slope scale. One of the challenges with multiscale models is ensuring that they are representative of real behaviour, and this requires calibration to detailed high-quality experiments. The focus of the work presented was to capture and quantify root-reinforcement behaviour and associated soil and root deformation mechanisms during direct shear at the macroscopic to millimetre length scales. A novel shear box was developed to operate within a large-scale X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner. Tests were interrupted to be scanned at a series of shear displacements from 0-20 mm to capture the chronology of behaviour in three-dimensions. Digital volume correlation (DVC) was applied to the CT dataset to obtain full-field 3D displacement and strain component information. The study demonstrates feasibility of the technique and presents preliminary DVC results.
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- Current Faculties > Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Engineering > Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering > Infrastructure Group
Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering > Infrastructure Group - Faculties (pre 2018 reorg) > Faculty of Engineering and the Environment (pre 2018 reorg) > Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute (pre 2018 reorg)
- Faculties (pre 2018 reorg) > Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences (pre 2018 reorg) > Institute for Life Sciences (pre 2018 reorg)
Current Faculties > Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences > Institute for Life Sciences > Institute for Life Sciences (pre 2018 reorg)
Institute for Life Sciences > Institute for Life Sciences (pre 2018 reorg) - Current Faculties > Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Engineering > Mechanical Engineering > Bioengineering Group
Mechanical Engineering > Bioengineering Group - Current Faculties > Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Engineering > Mechanical Engineering > Engineering Materials and Surface Engineering Group
Mechanical Engineering > Engineering Materials and Surface Engineering Group
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