Numerical simulations on the effect of geosynthetic drainage elements on the seepage of road embankments

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The use of recycled building materials, industrial by-products and slightly contaminated soils in road constructions becomes more popular, however the amount of seepage has to be minimized in order to protect the soil and groundwater. The German Association for Research on Road Construction and Traffic Affairs (FGSV) has developed different methods regarding the construction of road embankments using such materials. By construction method E only a drainage mat is applied over the core, without additional sealing elements. To minimize the seepage, the saturated permeability of the core material should be relatively low. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this method and to verify the contribution of drainage layers in minimizing the seepage of road embankments, 2D numerical simulations were performed using VADOSE/W for a road embankment with and without a drainage layer. Climate data from the area of Munich Airport (average annual precipitation of 699 mm) was used for the calculations. Different soils, recycled building materials, municipal solid waste incineration ashes and a steelwork slag were modelled as core materials. The results have shown that a reduction of the core seepage of at least 30 % can be achieved by using a drainage layer. Moreover, the amount of seepage is not directly related to the saturated permeability of the core material, but depends mainly on the hydraulic conductivity in unsaturated state.

9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG2023)

Geosynthetics for the Geoenvironment