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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/I008756/1
Title: The impact of water repellency on soil mechanics
Principal Investigator: Lourenco, Dr S
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Swansea University
Department: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences
Organisation: Cardiff University
Scheme: First Grant - Revised 2009
Starts: 01 March 2011 Ends: 10 May 2013 Value (£): 101,667
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Ground Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
15 Sep 2010 Process, Environment and Sustainability Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
Contrary to a prevalling assumption in geotechnical engineering, soils can exhibit low wettability. Water repellent behaviour has been identified in contaminated, engineered and natural soils, and waste. These include oil contaminated soils (e.g. oil spills in refineries), carbon rich waste (e.g. lignitic mine waste), carbon engineered soils (e.g. soils amended with biochar), soils subjected to wildfires and some agricultural and forest soils, and sulphur blocks in mineral exploration. Despite research on the hydrological implications (reduced infiltration, enhancement of soil erodibility by wind and water, post fire debris flows), very little is known on the influence of water repellency on soil engineering properties. This proposal will address this knowledge gap by investigating the relationship between wettability and the engineering properties of unsaturated soils (with air and water in the pores). It will test the hypothesis that soils with a lower affinity for water exhibit poorer performance in terms of their engineering behaviour (higher compressibility and lower shear strength). This will be achieved by combining experimental techniques from Soil Science, Chemistry and Soil Mechanics. The results will provide a first insight into the influence of wettability on the engineering behaviour of soils.
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