Numerical analysis to define the optimum inclination of embankment slopes

MALTINTI, FRANCESCA

2007-01-01

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Abstract

It is known that embankment must have suitable scarp slope to assure road solid stability and so infrastructure durability and the inclination established for scarps must be verified through geotechnics methods. These methods correlate inclination of scarps with mechanical characteristics of soil with which the embankment is made of. In this memoir, the author means to report the results of a study, carried out through finite element method, to find out a correlation between scarp slope and ground inclination. The analysis objective is to identify the optimum inclination of embankment scarps versus soil mechanical characteristics, ground inclination and embankment height, so that: 1. to guarantee road solid stability and so infrastructure durability; 2. to limit the volumes of filling material; 3. to limit the ground surface taken up by the infrastructure; 4. to limit construction and expropriation costs. The study fits in main themes of environmental impact of road infrastructure: it is oriented to find some rules to protect the integrity of road work and to minimize environmental impact (in terms of land occupation and volumes of filling material) produced by road construction.