TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the relationship between trenching practice and road deterioration using a field trial
AU - Eskandari Torbaghan, Mehran
AU - Curioni, Giulio
AU - Hayati, Farzad
AU - Royal, Alexander
AU - Chapman, David
AU - Atkins, Philip
AU - Rogers, Chris
PY - 2020/2/19
Y1 - 2020/2/19
N2 - The functioning of modern societies relies on the successful performance of its infrastructure. In the UK much of the buried infrastructure is located below the road surface, and routine maintenance of these requires networks to be accessed, commonly by open cut methods. The open cut operation in roads is likely to change the performance of the pavement structure, and potentially how loads are transmitted, thereby affecting the buried infrastructure. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of open cut construction on the road, ground and buried infrastructure with the aim of improving the current associated guidelines. A fully instrumented site trial was undertaken where two pipes were installed using trenching in a road, with one reinstated according to the higher end of the UK specification and the other on the lower end of the specification. The trench reinstated according to the lower end of the specification experienced serviceability failure, where large settlements (approximately 70 mm) and deflections (up to 2000 microns) were observed. The other trench also experienced distress, although to a much reduced level. This demonstrates that trenching, even when reinstated according to the higher end of the specification, still weakens the existing road locally.
AB - The functioning of modern societies relies on the successful performance of its infrastructure. In the UK much of the buried infrastructure is located below the road surface, and routine maintenance of these requires networks to be accessed, commonly by open cut methods. The open cut operation in roads is likely to change the performance of the pavement structure, and potentially how loads are transmitted, thereby affecting the buried infrastructure. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of open cut construction on the road, ground and buried infrastructure with the aim of improving the current associated guidelines. A fully instrumented site trial was undertaken where two pipes were installed using trenching in a road, with one reinstated according to the higher end of the UK specification and the other on the lower end of the specification. The trench reinstated according to the lower end of the specification experienced serviceability failure, where large settlements (approximately 70 mm) and deflections (up to 2000 microns) were observed. The other trench also experienced distress, although to a much reduced level. This demonstrates that trenching, even when reinstated according to the higher end of the specification, still weakens the existing road locally.
U2 - 10.1680/jinam.19.00052
DO - 10.1680/jinam.19.00052
M3 - Article
SN - 2053-0242
JO - Infrastructure Asset Management
JF - Infrastructure Asset Management
ER -