Proceedings of the XVI ECSMGE

Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development

ISBN 978-0-7277-6067-8

The authors and ICE Publishing: All rights reserved, 2015

doi:10.1680/ecsmge.60678

Geotechnical Engineering for Sustainable

Transportation Infrastructure
Ingnierie gotechnique pour des infrastructures de transport durables
A. Gomes Correia*1
1
ISISE, University of Minho, Guimares, Portugal
* Corresponding Author

ABSTRACT This paper highlights how transportation geotechnics can interact with transportation infrastructures and how through the
planning, design, construction and maintenance can contribute to ensure solutions more safe, reliable and resilient in the future. In this con-
text sustainable concepts are discussed and applied as best practices to preserve natural resources and assuring socio-economic and envi-
ronment benefits for the society.

RSUM Cet article met en vidence la manire dont la gotechnique pour les transports peut interagir avec leurs infrastructures et la fa-
on comme par moyen de la conception, du projet, de la construction et de lentretien peuvent contribuer des solutions plus scures,
fiables et rsilients dans l'avenir. Dans ce contexte des concepts du dveloppement durable sont abords et appliqus comme les meilleures
pratiques pour prserver les ressources naturelles en assurant des avantages socio-conomique et environnemental pour la socit.

1 INTRODUCTION structures. However, it has been recognized that sus-

Transport infrastructures (roads, highways, bridges,
airports, railways, waterways, canals and terminals),
are one of the most material demanding industries,
which justify a market transformation towards con-
ception, design, construction, maintenance and ex-
ploitation of more sustainable structures. These infra-
structures effects on earths resources and
environment but also changes the land use pattern
that persists for centuries and affects the societal val-
ues of a community (Long et al. 2009; Jefferis 2008;
Pender 2011; Basu et al. 2013). Thus, geotechnical
aspects are of primary importance from the planning
and design stages of an infrastructure construction
project, including also other components like pipe-
lines for transporting liquid and gas materials. As the
project interfere with many social, environmental and
economic issues, improving the sustainability of ge-
otechnical processes is extremely important in
achieving overall sustainable transportation infra-
tainability is not a goal, but a process of continuous
improvement according to the needs and the context
which can vary in time and space. For instance, there
are some best practices that impact multiple sustaina-
bility components over the long term (40 or 50 years
analysis period), while others focus in one single life-
cycle phase (e.g. construction phase). In a broad
sense a sustainable transportation infrastructure is
one that (1) meets basic human needs, (2) uses re-
sources effectively, and (3) preserves/restores sur-
roundings ecosystems (Tech Brief 2014). In this con-
text geotechnical planning, design and construction
in the early phase of the infrastructure project, can
significantly contribute to the overall sustainable de-
velopment by making sustainable choices in the sev-
eral components of the project. These choices should
follow the EU Sustainable Development Strategy di-
rective that establishes the following objectives by
2020: (1) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
20%, (2) to reduce primary energy usage by 20%,

49
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development
and (3) to increase use of renewable forms of energy
to 20% of the energy mix. A Sustainable Develop-
ment Commission report Prosperity without
Growth referred by ORiordan et al. 2011, states
that the world produces 770g of CO2 per $ of income
and that this figure must reduce to 6g per $ by 2050,
if all 9 billion of us are to enjoy European income
levels in 2050 and simultaneously stabilize atmos-
pheric CO2 at 450ppm. As construction activity con-
tributes about 20 to 25% to global carbon emissions,
so it will be essential to reduce emissions in construc-
tion to pursue sustainable development.
In this paper after an overview of the sustainable
principles and measures, some aspects are addressed
that can contribute to improvements in these
measures, covering: earthworks, reuse of natural ge-
omaterials and soil treatment, CO2 emissions in
earthworks, optimisation of earthworks tasks, design
and quality control, recycled and novel materials, and
maintenance.
2 SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES AND
MEASURES
Efforts to apply the sustainable development concept
to the transportation infrastructure construction in-
dustry start to be applied based in the success ob-
tained in building construction industry with the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) program. This is a credit based voluntary rat-
ing system that has world while exponentially grown
reducing energy use from buildings and generating
less waste material. There are recently concurrent ef-
forts to use rating system for roadway construction
(Edil 2009) and this should be encouraged for trans-
portation infrastructures and related geotechnical
works.
A number of recent advances for measuring and
evaluating sustainability in transportation structure
include: (1) the particular vehicles used for road,
railway, water or air transport, (2) the source of ener-
gy, and (3) the infrastructure used to accommodate,
end-of-life, and rating systems. However, the integra-
tion of these measures to sustainability assessment is
not universal. Several tools were developed, some are
qualitative others are quantitative and life cycle based
(Basu et al. 2014; TechBrief 2014). In the qualitative
50
tools we can mention the Sustainable Geotechnical
Evaluation Model, the Sustainable Project Appraisal
Routine (SpeAR), GeoSPeAR and BREEAM, among
others. For the other tools the more popular ones in-
clude many pavements-related items like FHWAs
INVEST, Greenroads, Green Airport Pavement
Treatments (GAPI) and Building Environmentally
and Economically Sustainable Transportation-
Infrastructure-Highways (BE2ST - in - Highways),
among others, pushing research in alternative sus-
tainable geomaterials. It should also be mentioned a
proposed multicriteria based quantitative framework
for assessing the sustainability of geotechnical pro-
jects. This one considers resource consumption, envi-
ronmental impact and socio-economic benefits of a
project over its entire life span to calculate a sustain-
able index, as shown in Figure 1 (Misra & Basu
2012).
Figure 1. Multicriteria based sustainability assessment framework
(Misra & Basu 2012).
In fact, geomaterials used in transportation infra-
structures in the construction, maintenance and reha-
bilitation have an important impact in the sustainabil-
ity of the system through the energy consumption
and emissions generated in the extraction, pro-
cessing, and transportation. In this context earthwork
activities of transportation infrastructures should be
designed following the sustainability principles. It
should balance costs, environmental and social as-
pects integrated in life cycle analysis. In this analysis
an evaluation of the carbon footprint should be as-
sessed for the various scenarios, requiring considera-
tion of import/export of fill materials, plant opera-
tions, use of carbon-based geosynthetic materials,
soil improvement or stabilization. Consequently, im-
provement of soils for road foundations and em-
bankments, as well as promoting the reuse of all the
materials coming from excavations, is strongly rec-
ommended to reduce impacts in the environment due

to material extraction, material use and transport.
This intends to reduce impacts related with construc-
tion activities, mainly equipment emissions, fuel con-
sumption, air-noise-water pollution and to improve
safety and health of workers.
Although the role of geotechnical engineering in
sustainable development is being increasingly recog-
nized (Figure 2), there is a general lack of under-
standing regarding how exactly geotechnical pro-
cesses can contribute to the overall sustainability. At
the same time, there is a scarcity of geo-sustainability
literature and of an integrated framework for sustain-
able geotechnical practice (Abreu et al. 2008 cited by
Misra & Basu 2011). This paper pretends to be a con-
tribution to fill some of these gaps oriented for com-
ponents of transportation geotechnics.
Figure 2. Relative availability of literature in different areas of
sustainable geotechnology (Misra & Basu 2011).
3 SUSTAINABLE EARTHWORKS
As a consequence of the previous considerations sus-
tainable approach to material consumption begins
with a design and planning that seeks to reuse and in-
corporate as much as possible material existing on
construction site as practicable. Moreover, sequential
tasks such as excavation, transportation, spreading
and compaction are strongly based on heavy mechan-
ical equipment and repetitive processes, thus becom-
ing as economically demanding as they are time-
consuming. Given the percentage weight of costs and
duration of earthworks in infrastructure construction
projects (30 to 50%), the optimal usage of every re-
source in these tasks is paramount. Considering the
characteristics of an earthwork construction, it can be
Correia
considered as a production line based on resources
(mechanical equipment) and dependency relations
between sequential tasks, hence being susceptible to
optimization (Parente et al. 2015).
Furthermore at design level, products should be
planned so that reuse and possible recycling can take
place at whole stage of life cycle, resulting in zero
waste generation (Gomes Correia & Magnan 2012;
FHWA 2000) (Figure 3). Furthermore, because of
environmental regulations, industrial inorganic by-
products results also in a strong industrial market. It
should be stressed that some of these inorganic by-
products have better mechanical performances than
earth materials (Grgoire et al. 2009; Gomes Correia
et al. 2009; Gomes Correia et al. 2012).
As an example, in France an attempt for imple-
menting sustainability in earthworks were promoted
by the French Government with the agreement of the
public works contractors, involved through their Na-
tional Federation (FNTP), since March 2009, as re-
ported by Gomes Correia et al. 2014. In this context
Public works companies committed themselves to re-
spond to the issues of global warming or the deple-
tion of non-renewable resources by proposing practi-
cal, innovative, economically acceptable solutions
and consistent with the objectives of sustainable de-
velopment (Boisson & Raoul 2012). This is why
companies involved in earthworks, road construction
and engineering companies will strive to:
reuse 100% of all soils and rocks excavated at the
construction site,
achieve 100% road recycling,
preserve biodiversity and natural environment,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy con-
sumption,
reduce the consumption of water,
increase the environmental performance of con-
tractors,
improve safety of road, workers, users and nearby
residents,
take part in research programs and disseminate
and implement innovation,
improve technical and normative rules.
These achievements planned for Horizon 2020,
will produce noticeable effects on the practice creat-
ing new links between the public and private actors
of earthworks and road construction. Their results
51
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development
will hopefully be useful in the other European coun-
tries.
Figure 3. Life cycle with zero waste generation.
3.1 Reuse of natural geomaterials and soil
treatment
As mentioned before, sustainable approach to materi-
al consumption begins with a design and planning
that seeks to reuse and incorporate as much as possi-
ble nearly all on site available natural geomaterial.
This will avoid dumping and save resources which
include among others, quarries of high quality mate-
rials, minimise demand on land and transport. So, the
first attempt is to evaluate whether the excavated ge-
omaterial meets the specifications for the specific ap-
plication. However, if it not meets the specifications
required chemical treatments are explored. In this
case, lime treatment of fine soils is a common prac-
tice in many countries to reuse very wet or too soft
soils as embankments, capping layers, among others.
Usually, only an immediate improvement of the soil
properties is expected to increase workability and as-
sist compaction during earthworks. This technique is
already a common practice for several decades in Eu-
rope. However, long term effects of lime treated soils
being generally not taken into account in the design.
Even mixing rather low amounts of lime with soils
induces pozzolanic reactions that may continue
through years, resulting in a continuous increase of
strength (Little 1995; Cabane 2004; Bollans et al.
2005; De Bel et al. 2007, 2009, 2011). Neglecting
this long term development has a direct impact on
costs of earthworks, mainly for slope stability and
erosion, as well as in bearing capacity. De Bel et al.
2009 show for a silt soil treated with 3% of quick-
52
lime that even early after construction, for instance 4
days of curing time, the slope safety factor rises from
1,5 for the untreated soil to 2,5 for the treated soil.
This evolution grows on with time and values close
to 4 and 10 are reached respectively after 3 months
and one year (in constant humidity and temperature
conditions (20)). Of course, these results should be
checked for other type of soils and under different
environmental simulations. Nowadays is well accept-
ed that long-term effects, aims to increase strongly
the mechanical properties of a soil (Little 1995; Bol-
lens & al. 2005; Cabane 2006; De Bel 2006; De Bel
& al. 2007, 2009, 2011) with the objective to reach a
permanent state of stability, especially against water
and frost effects. This process is the consequence of
the pozzolanic reactions engaged between lime, wa-
ter, silica and alumina from the clayey particles. Alt-
hough these reactions and their products are now
well established, their influence on the evolution of
the geomechanical properties of the treated soil has,
till now, few been studied, and are so, less or not tak-
en into account in earthworks projects, neither in
capping layers design. Referring to the same study of
the lime treated soil the same authors presented later
interesting experimental results showing that strength
resistance evaluated by unconfined compression tests
(Rc) of lime treated soil continue to increase up to
730 days at 20C (De Bel et al. 2011). The evolution
is not linear but results of different steps with a clear
transition at 112 days (20C). Thanks to the micro-
scale study it was possible to better understand the
different chemical and structural processes. XRD and
ESEM were one of the micro-scale studies to under-
stand in a fundamental way the evolution of the me-
chanical properties of lime-treated soils. XRD tests
show the alteration of clayey minerals and the appari-
tion of new components (CAH) at an early stage.
This can explain the first step of the stabilization till
112 days (Figure 4). Then, during the second step of
the stabilization, interparticle bonds are forming, in-
creasing significantly the cohesion (bond between
particles) of the treated soil. These interparticles
bonds, probably CSH, were observed by ESEM.
To couple macro and micro observations is the sin-
gle way to a better understanding of the pozzolanic
reactions and of the long-term stabilization processes.
It should also be mentioned that the increase of long

term performance has also been observed in cement
treated clay by Flores et al. 2010.
In conclusion, qualitatively it can be assumed that
the initial over-costs of the lime or cement treatment
can be counterbalanced by other advantages related
with the durability of the earthworks which can be
quantitatively demonstrated by a proper life cycle
analysis and risk analysis (Clayton 2000).
2500
y = 1120.2Ln(x) - 4630.3
2000
R2 = 0.9997
R'c (kPa)
1500
1000
y = 114.13Ln(x) + 143.54
2
R = 0.984
500
untreated
0 3% lime
0.1 1 10 100
curing time (days)
Figure 4. Strength improvement with curing time at 20C (De Bel
et al. 2011).
3.2 CO2 emissions in earthworks tasks
Recently, new environmental concerns regarding
earthwork constructions have emerged. Such con-
cerns are considerably wide, ranging from water
economy to carbon dioxide emissions and waste con-
trol in construction phases, which go beyond the usu-
al implemented environmental rules, such as the
ecology and nature conservation or the regard for the
landscape and townscape (Environmental Resources
Management 2004).
Most of these construction concerns have been
taken into consideration during the construction and
preparation for the UK Olympic Games (presented
here as an example), including (ODA 2007):
carbon: to minimise the carbon emissions associ-
ated with the construction of the Olympic Park
and venues,
water: to optimise the opportunities for efficient
water use, reuse and recycling,
waste: to optimise the reduction of waste through
design, and to maximise the reuse and recycling of
material arising during demolition, remediation
and construction,
materials: to identify, source, and use environmen-
tally and socially responsible materials,
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biodiversity and ecology: to protect and enhance
the biodiversity and ecology of the Lower Lea
Valley, and other venue locations,
land, water, noise, air: to optimise positive and
minimise adverse impacts on land, water, noise,
and air quality.
It is easily inferred that carbon emissions and air
quality are of critical relevance in earthworks
tasks. In fact, as noted within the Environmental
Statement, the key emission to air is the genera-
tion of dust from demolition, earthworks and con-
struction activities (Environmental Resources
Management 2006).
Emissions from vehicles associated with construc-
tion sites can significantly add to levels of local air
pollution, so it is important that best practical
means of reducing vehicle emissions are adopted.
1000 As such, several mitigation measures can be taken
in order to minimize air quality impacts (Greater
London Authority & London Councils, 2006):
developers can specify tax-exempt red diesel
with a sulphur content equivalent to ultra-low sul-
phur diesel. This measure will automatically re-
duce particulate emissions by 30 per cent. Fur-
thermore, fitting suitable after treatment devices
can reduce the remaining particles by at least 85
per cent. Also, considering that fine particles are
of great concern to health, their reduction is a very
effective way of reducing any health impacts to
workers and sensitive receptors,
in addition to local air pollutants, carbon dioxide
is also emitted from vehicle exhausts. As it is a
key gas linked to climate change, controls should
be put in place to limit emissions; these controls
will also help developers reducing fuel costs,
no vehicles or plant should be left idling unneces-
sarily. Should any emissions of dark smoke occur
(except during start up) then the relevant machin-
ery should be stopped immediately and any prob-
lem rectified before being used,
reduce the number of vehicle movements through
better planning,
set an appropriate speed limit on haul routes,
avoid use of diesel or petrol powered generators
by using mains electricity or battery powered
equipments where possible and if safety concerns
can be overcome,
53
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development

encourage developers to use consolidation centres user input using a GIS, namely including all the pos-
to manage site deliveries. This will help to reduce sible work fronts and potential equipment trajecto-
time wasted searching for materials and the num- ries/paths. The GIS Path Finder algorithm determines
ber of vehicles entering the site, and will have the best routes or trajectories for transportation
both congestion and emission benefits, equipment regarding the location of work fronts and
where construction sites are located near to wa- borrowing sites and potential equipment paths, with
terways or railways it may be feasible for con- the purpose of optimizing the workflow inside the
struction materials to be delivered or removed work site. Finally, the Optimization Module receives
from the site using water transportation means, ra- information from both previous modules and inte-
ther than by road. The obvious benefit is that it grates a simulation-optimization algorithm, which at-
will reduce the number of trips made by vehicles tempts to find a near optimal solution for the problem
on local roads, therefore reducing local emissions of determining the best possible equipment fleet and
and disturbance to sensitive receptors. its optimal distribution throughout the work area,
bearing in mind both construction time and costs.
3.3 Optimisation of earthworks tasks Additionally, considering that the optimum equip-
ment locations are not static over time, since equip-
Taking into account the costs involved in earthworks ment from one work front should be reassigned to
that represent around 30 to 50% of all costs in con- others as their initial tasks are completed, the prob-
struction of roads and railways (Boisson & Raoul lem is defined as dynamic multi-objective optimiza-
2012) an effective planning of the different tasks are tion with conflicting objectives.
necessary to maximise productivity and minimize
costs. Consequently, the allocation of available re-
sources and selection of the best equipment fleet for
the work are the most important factors to achieve
these objectives. So far, there has been reasonable
development regarding the optimization of earthwork
constructions, mainly in the form of equipment and
operation modelling systems, in order to simulate site
conditions and work sequence. Among these, most
focus on planning and optimization during a project
design phase, whereas few look to optimize the
earthwork tasks themselves throughout construction Figure 5. System architecture (adapted from Gomes Correia &
Magnan 2012).
phase (Parente et al. 2015).
Inspired in the work by (Gomes Correia &
Finally, assuming the availability of GPS equip-
Magnan 2012) Parente et al. 2013 proposed a system
ment in each fleet element, it becomes possible to in-
that assumes the integration of 3 main modules
clude the option to, through the GPS receivers, de-
(Equipment module, Spatial module and Optimiza-
termine the real productivity of each equipment in
tion module) with capabilities to acquire and manipu-
construction phase, allowing the system to automati-
late data from each phase of an earthwork project.
cally update and re-optimize itself in real-time as the
Figure 5 depicts the system as well as the flow of in-
construction carries on.
formation throughout the modules of the system.
Based in this system architecture, Parente et al.
In general terms, the Equipment Module is re-
2015a,b develop an integrated earthwork optimiza-
sponsible for receiving the user input for available
tion algorithm using soft computing techniques such
equipment/plants, while calculating or retrieving
as evolutionary computation (i.e., genetic algorithms
equipment costs. Simultaneously, this module should
GA), thus being considered intelligent earthwork
include Data Mining models, used for the determina-
systems, aiming to maximise productivity and mini-
tion of the productivity rates for available equipment.
mize costs. This is done adopting the following ap-
On the other hand, the Spatial Module allows for the
proach. Having an initial distribution of compaction
creation of a functional model of the work area by

54

equipment, the equipment for the remaining tasks
(excavation, transportation, spreading) is then dis-
tributed by using linear programming (LP) optimiza-
tion models, targeting the minimization of cost while
restricting the minimum required work rate to that of
the associated compaction front. In each solution, this
process is repeated for each construction phase, re-
sulting in a determination of global costs and dura-
tions for the initial distribution of compaction equip-
ment. The best solutions are then subjected to genetic
algorithms (GA) operators, namely crossover and
mutation, generating new solutions which are evalu-
ated using the same methodology. The algorithmic
flow for the multi-objective GA and its associated
fitness function is shown in Figure 6.
This optimization system was applied to a case
study described in detail by Parente at al. 2015b. The
available data includes the daily allocation of earth-
work equipment throughout a road construction site,
including information on available equipment, mate-
rial volumes and types in excavation and compaction
fronts and distances between fronts. By modelling
and optimizing a specific number of phases, results
indicate that it would be possible to reduce execution
times for some of the construction phases between 20
to 50% of their original duration, without increasing
costs. Figure 7 shows a typical result of the system
from which is possible to see the advantages in rela-
tion to the solution obtained by conventional design
that is far from optimal. In fact, if this system will be
applied for this construction project, a high impact
could be achieved, with an estimated reduction of
around 50% to 70% of both costs and durations, ful-
filling some of the principles of sustainability. Still,
the system does not take into account the occurrence
of unpredictable events during construction (i.e.,
equipment malfunction) or other restrains like CO2
emissions. However, this could be mitigated by re-
running a new optimization procedure that included
new restraints, which would result in a new set of op-
timal solutions for current site conditions achieving
cost-effectiveness.
4 RECYCLED AND NOVEL MATERIALS
The use of recycled materials benefits environment
by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy
Correia
consumption, as they require very little processing
and mining. However, they might verify engineering
and environment criteria for specific applications.
The minimum requirements that should be ad-
dressed to the quality of recycled materials are (Win-
ter 1998):
the materials used should be chemically suitable
for the environment in which they are used; some
material might require treatment (e.g. stabilization
or remediation) and consent prior to use,
the materials used should be durable (neither sus-
ceptible to deterioration, neither biodegradable),
the materials used in the layer should provide a
surface of sufficient stiffness (and or shear
strength) for the intended end use. If a stiffness
value to be achieved is specified then test method
needs to be also specified,
the materials in the layer should have such proper-
ties that they will not suffer unacceptable post
construction settlement or movement.
Thinking sustainable, there are a number of inno-
vative materials and techniques that are currently
available and/or emerging for use in earthworks. The
materials generally fall into four categories, as fol-
lows (Gomes Correia et al. 2012):
reuse and recycled geomaterials,
non-traditional geomaterials,
non-geomaterials such as tyre-derived products
(shred, chip, crumb) and residues from construc-
tion and demolition,
hydraulically bound materials.
As referred before, there is strong pressure to use
industrial by-products and recycled materials in con-
struction of transport infrastructures and geotechnical
works (marble, metal slag, slag from waste incinera-
tion, slag from coal fired power plants, slags and
combustion residues from foundries and waste of
mining, among others).
A methodological approach to promote the use of
Portuguese electrical arc furnace steel slag is present-
ed as an example that can be applied for other indus-
trial sub-products (Gomes Correia et al. 2012). In this
context a huge laboratory research programme was
carried out, which addresses 4 elements of geotech-
nical and geoenvironmental behaviour:
ultimate strength under monotonic loading,
resilient behaviour (stiffness),
55
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development
Population generation
(compactor distribution)

Repeat fitness function for each con-

struction phase:

Crossover &
mutation for Fitness evaluation
generation of LP models for equipment
(for each solution) allocation in other tasks
new popula-
tion

Calculate compaction duration

and associated costs
No
Stop
criteria?

Update material volumes in all

fronts

Yes

Output (for each solution):

Allocation of equipment to each earthwork task;
Amount of time each equipment stays in its present position before
being reallocated (in a new construction phase); and
Global execution cost and duration for current solution.

Figure 6. Algorithmic flow for the optimization system (Parente et

al. 2015).

susceptibility to the increment build-up of perma-
nent deformation due to repeated loading, and
leachability.
These test results were in a first step compared
with those based in the empirical tests used in the na-
tional specifications for the embankments and struc-
tural layers of transport infrastructures.
It was concluded that performance laboratory tests
results based in cyclic triaxial test show a much bet-
ter material performance than the results based in
empirical tests (Los Angeles (LA) and micro-Deval
(MDe) reinforcing the need to evaluate non-
traditional materials by performance based tests
(Gomes Correia et al. 2012). Furthermore, this mate-
rial when compared with results of mechanical tests
of natural unbound granular materials used in road
construction show better mechanical performance or
at least the same. Figure 8 illustrates these results
based in the characteristic modulus and the character-
istic permanent strain obtained for a determined
stress level under cyclic triaxial tests (Gomes Correia
et al. 2012). Figure 9 also shows the results in terms
of stiffness of the processed slags (ISAC) when com-

56
 Correia

pared with natural aggregates (granite and lime-
stone).
Additionally, leaching test results show that this
processed by-product is inert and it was therefore
named Inert Steel Aggregates for Construction
(ISAC). These laboratory conclusions were validated
in a full-scale trial by end performance testing (de-
vices which measure in-situ stiffness by spot tests
and by continuous monitoring, as well as leaching
values measured with lysimeters). This field trial in-
volves raw materials and ISAC. Figure 10 illustrates
a field section of leaching measurements (Gomes
Correia et al. 2012).
relatively free-draining (Figure 11). Successful appli-
cations for tyre bales include as road foundations in
both the USA (New York State) and the UK (Winter
et al. 2005). Winter et al. (2006, 2007, 2009) include
other applications such as slope failure remediation,
lightweight embankment fill, gravity retaining walls,
drainage layers/paths, storm water management sys-
tems and rainwater soakaways, and environmental
barriers. Winter & Gomes Correia (2015) illustrate
how typically the introduction of these two materials
(ISAC and tyre bales) to the construction market fol-
lows the sequential stages set-out in Figure 12.
EN 13286 - 7, 2004
1500

1250 Hard limestones

Soft limestones
1000
Igneous
Ec (MPa) 750 Maia ISAC
Belgian limestone
500
Belgian steel slag
250
RCDs
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
e1c (10 -4 )

Figure 8. Comparison of mechanical performance of natural ag-

gregates with recycled materials.

10000 x Seixal ISAC *

Granite Aggregate: GA(0/19)
w=5.8%; e0 = 0.330 w=5.9%; e0=0.260
y = 50.14x0.56 y = 13.02x0.57
Enor(e=0,35) (MPa)

1000 + Maia ISAC

w=3.3%; e0=0.343
y = 60.78x0.54
Figure 7. Optimization results: a) vertically averaged Pareto-
100
optimal front; b) comparison between optimized Pareto front (line) - - Granite Aggregate: GA (0/31,5)
Limestone Aggregate
and the real-world human based allocation solution (dot); in both w=3.9%; e0=0.236
w=5.9%; e0=0.232
graphs, the Cost objective, y-axis, is presented in Euro, while the y = 4.70x0.71
Duration objective, x-axis, is presented in hours. y = 18.29x0.57
10
10 100 1000
It should also be mentioned that recycled materials s1 (kPa)
can be significantly improved if they are mixed with Figure 9. Comparison of stiffness of natural aggregates (limestone
other by-products that exhibit cementitious proper- and granite) with processed steel slags (ISAC).
ties, such self-cementing fly ash, waste incineration
ash, which are responsible for alkali activation (Sar- More recently another research topic that can have
gent et al. 2012). Other combinations are with mine in future a great impact in reuse of materials improv-
wastes (Oluwasola et al. 2015). ing its performance and thinking sustainable is incor-
Additional interesting example is the technical porate-nanotechnology knowledge in the formulation
benefits of tyre bales, which are both lightweight and of materials (Lundahl et al. 2010).

57
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development

Figure 10. Lysimeters in the full-scale field trial and their sche-
matic representation.

damage occurred to these structures (Rana et al.

2014).
Furthermore, reinforced embankments exhibit
numerous advantages over conventional fills, espe-
cially along steep or unstable slopes and in seismic
areas, as well as in layer reinforcements.
For fills, usually the reinforcement does not cover
the entire area, unless spreading of an embankment
should be avoided, or in canyon-like valleys with
slender earth structures (Brandl 2004).

Figure 11. A typical tyre bale with dimensions (from Winter et al.
2006).

In fact reinforcement of soil using short and dis-

crete synthetic and natural fibres has been found to
improve various properties of soils such as tensile
strength and stiffness, shear strength, post-peak
strength loss, ductility, etc.
Due to their high aspect ratio combined with ex-
cellent mechanical strength and stiffness nano fibres
can be advantageously used for soil reinforcement for Figure 12. The development of business based on the production
various geotechnical applications. Besides that, the and sale of a new product based on reused, recycled or recovered
use of conductive nano fibres (e.g. carbon nano fibre) waste materials (from Winter & Gomes Correia 2015).
may impart electrical conductivity and piezoresistivi-
ty to the reinforced soils and these properties can be The routine use of geosynthetics situated between
used to sense automatically the deformation and individual compacted layers in reinforced embank-

58

ments and railtracks is very well established and
demonstrated as a sustainable solution (Indraratna et
al. 2012; Hussaini et al. 2014; Yonezawa et al. 2014).
Moreover, other more innovative solutions are also
referred by Vanicek & Vanicek 2013, the so called
brick-fiber-concrete. The principle of this system is
simple, utilises old bricks and concrete, which after
crushing and sorting out into different fractions cre-
ate the base for the new material concrete rein-
forced by short synthetics fibers.
5 ACCELERATED CONSTRUCTION BY
COMPACTION TECHNOLOGY
Accelerated construction technologies are essential
for performance, cost-effectiveness and consequently
are contributing for sustainable practices in construc-
tion. Some examples contributing to accelerated con-
struction are the developments taking place in com-
paction technology using high energy impact
compactors and intelligent compaction rollers. Some
of them integrate instrumentation allowing direct
measurement of the engineering properties during
compaction in real time, which can be used improv-
ing compaction uniformity and effective compaction
effort. High energy impact compactors appear to
provide a much greater depth of compaction, allow-
ing for placement of thicker fills and consequently a
significantly increased of rate of embankment con-
struction. Pinard 2001 shows that the particularity
features of all impact compactors is their non-circular
compacting masses which have a series of points al-
ternating with flat compacting faces. It is also re-
ferred that the above advantages have been quantified
from a number of comparative trials and at the south-
ern runway at Hong Kong's international airport at
Chek Lap Kok. Adam & Markiewicz 2001 and
Brandl 1990 also corroborate some of these findings
with rollers equipped with dynamic excited polygo-
nal shaped drums.
However, conventional vibratory rollers have also
been object of several developments. One of the main
technological developments concerns energy varia-
bility and efficiency by the use of two counter-
rotating weights in the drum rather than the conven-
tional single, one-directional eccentric weight. The
weights rotate in opposite directions and only come
Correia
together in a common direction in the downward ver-
tical inclination. This eliminates unwanted and
wasteful movements in the lateral and upward direc-
tions that occur with conventional compaction drums.
Internally, the entire counterweight assembly is rotat-
ed to adjust the direction of the point where the two
weights act together. Adam and Kopf 2000 describe
that the Vario roller developed by Bomag company
can be used both for dynamic compression compac-
tion (like a vibratory roller), for dynamic shear com-
paction (like an oscillatory roller), and a combination
of these two possibilities, depending only on the ad-
justable force direction. With these technologies
onboard monitoring system were applied to vibratory
rollers that automatically adjust their energy output to
a defined control criteria to achieve compaction op-
timisation (so called intelligent compaction - IC).
Several companies, for example, Ammann, Bomag
and Dynapac all have IC machines ready for work in
soils and aggregates, and Ammann and Bomag have
asphalt models as well.
The intelligent compaction supposes neither to
under-compact nor over-compact materials, allowing
an optimised and a highly uniform compaction
(Brandl 2001).
Furthermore, the use of instrumentation on the
compaction equipment, particularly in intelligent
compactors, provides 100 percent quality control
coverage leading to the effective implementation of
warrantees and guarantees for both earthworks and
pavements. These developments pretend accelerate
construction of embankments and granular layers re-
specting compaction requirements of modern pave-
ments and rail tracks in a cost-effective manner.
In conclusion modern compaction equipment, op-
timisation and control have opened the possibility of
constructing high embankments instead of bridges
for roads, highways airports and railways likewise
(Brandl 2001). In most cases, such alternatives re-
duce the construction costs and facilitate the use of
nearby fill material (taken from site excavations,
slope cuts, borrow pits). Furthermore, embankments
can be vegetated, are therefore environment-friendly,
and their maintenance costs are by far smaller than
for bridges (Gomes Correia et al. 2014).
59
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development
6 DESIGN AND QUALITY CONTROL
Improvements in a number of areas related to both
routine and sophisticated design and construction af-
fect the economic success of pavement and railtrack
foundations as well as transportation earthworks and
consequently sustainability (Gomes Correia 2012).
These areas include modelling of the behaviour of
embankments and pavement and railtrack founda-
tions, design of earthworks, preparation and quality
control of pavement subgrade and earthwork quality
control methods and procedures. Furthermore, mod-
elling, design and construction of granular layers
(structural layers) can also have an important effect
in pavement and railtrack performances (Gomes Cor-
reia 2001, 2008; Gomes Correia & Cunha 2014).
Design and construction of pavements and rail-
ways are moving from merely empirical procedures
towards mechanistic approaches based on a sounder
theoretical basis. This is essential to facilitate the sus-
tainable use of new materials in transportation infra-
structure under various climatic and traffic (load and
speed) conditions. This will contribute to sustainable
transport infrastructures, making them safe, efficient,
economic, environmentally friendly, meeting the
needs of present-day users without compromising
those of future generations. In addition, this will lead
to a future challenge to implement a common frame-
work between road, railway, geotechnical and envi-
ronmental engineers.
In the framework of the International Technical
Committee TC202 (former TC3) Transportation
Geotechnics of the International Society for Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
some contributions were done to cover some of the
gaps identified in these areas. Improvements on it
could have a tremendous impact on transportation in-
frastructure maintenance costs. In this context the
European Technical Committee ETC11 (1997-2001)
and further on the International Committee TC3
(2002-2005 and 2005-2009) and the actual TC 202
(2009-2013) of ISSMGE promote several workshops
and seminar reported in the European and Interna-
tional Conferences proceedings (XII ECSMGE, Am-
sterdam 1999; XVI ICSMGE, Osaka 2005; XIV
ECSMGE, Madrid 2007; XVII ISCSMGE, Alexan-
dria 2009) and also in several publications (Gomes
Correia & Quibel 2000; Gomes Correia & Brandl,
60
2001; Gomes Correia & Loizos 2004; Gomes Correia
et al. 2006a,b; Gomes Correia et al. 2007; Ellis et al.
2008; Miura et al. 2012). Some of the outputs of this
work include:
- development of the laboratory performance test, its
use and role in the context of the design and quality
control processes striving the sustainable use of ma-
terials, illustrated with some case studies;
- innovations of compaction technologies and quality
control techniques. The use of quality control by per-
formance specifications appropriated for recycled
materials (Fleming et al. 2006),
- discussion of the previous developments in the wid-
er context of the mechanistic-based design, and how
this will help the promotion of sustainable use of ma-
terials.
Improvements in a number of other areas related to
both routine and sophisticated design affect the eco-
nomic and societal success of transportation network
and consequently sustainability. These areas include
the design against extreme events, like seismic and
flooding. Tokida 2012 based on the typical damages
of road embankments induced by recent earthquakes,
and supported in large-scaled field tests, centrifuge
tests and analytical simulations, propose interesting
methodologies for macroscopic assessment of seis-
mic potential of road embankments and new concepts
for the performance-based design of road embank-
ments. Reducing the risk of embankment failure un-
der these extreme conditions has to be assessed in the
design process, mainly when road or railway closures
and detours have an important costly societal impact.
For these critical infrastructures an holistic approach
considering environmental, social, economic, relia-
bility, and resilience aspects should be developed in
geotechnical engineering for sustainable transporta-
tion infrastructures.
Furthermore, a major concern affecting these de-
sign aspects is the assessment of quality of materials
used in the structure and substructure (subgrade and
embankment), as well as the quality of construction
and its control, assuming that a proper design is done.
The structural design for pavements and railtracks
has been primarily based on the modulus/strength of
different pavement layers. However, most quality as-
surance-quality control (QA/QC) processes during
construction rely on parameters such as density and
moisture content that are not used during the design

stage (Gomes Correia & Nazarian 2015). Existing
practices need to be supplemented with methods that
will provide continuity between the design, construc-
tion and laboratory testing, so that performance-
based specifications can be implemented. Methods to
measure the material modulus in the field shortly af-
ter construction may lead to a more reliable imple-
mentation of the design. Modulus-based QA/QC may
be more beneficial than traditional techniques be-
cause they are non-destructive and rapid to perform,
immediate results are obtained, and the material is
tested in its natural state. Since the modulus of a ma-
terial varies with moisture content, the moisture con-
tent of the material at the time of modulus testing
should be measured as well. In this context the de-
velopment of the automatic control of the operation
modes of different dynamic rollers was done in con-
nection with a roller-integrated continuous compac-
tion control system (CCC) measuring the dynamic in-
teraction between dynamic roller and material (Adam
2007). Furthermore, this instrumentation on the com-
paction equipment provides 100% quality control
coverage leading to the effective implementation of
warrantees and guarantees for both earthworks and
granular layers. In the case compacted material is as-
sessed in spot test methods modulus related, the re-
sults are sufficient to do a statistical and probabilistic
analysis. These advanced technologies deliver a
modulus that with proper calibration is the base to
provide continuity between the design, laboratory,
construction and maintenance.
7 MAINTENANCE
Maintenance is known to prolong the end life of the
structure, avoiding more costly and energy emission
recycling or disposal operations. Consequently strat-
egies should be oriented to timely maintenance and
preservation of the built environment. However, con-
tinuing maintenance and remediation becoming a
major engineering constraint for infrastructure own-
ers. If we consider the existing road and rail network
built in the mid-19th century we quickly realize that
embankments were generally constructed from local
materials. By todays standards, these embankments
were poorly constructed and are now prone to disrup-
tive failure, particularly during periods of prolonged
Correia
rainfall. Therefore, the is a need to better understand
this old embankment behaviour and remediation
techniques through intensive monitoring and analysis
of real embankments, with measurements carried out
over a number of years to capture changes in the
earthworks over long periods. Several trial remedial
measures were tested along the years, including sta-
bilization technologies of embankment foundation
and, or of the embankment. They can be categorized
as follow: reducing disturbing forces (geogrids, piles,
retaining walls, soil pinning, track support), increas-
ing soil strength (stabilization, geomats), controlling
of water (drainage), mechanical support to resist de-
formation (geogrids). Hybrid solutions can involve
installing a row of concrete piles at the midslope to
transfer load from the slipping surface soil into un-
derlying stable ground (Smethurst & Powrie 2007).
Many of these technologies can also be applied to
accommodate higher loads, geometry changes, and
extreme environment conditions, like floods and
earthquakes. Special attention should be done with
geometry changes, e.g. widening. In these cases is
necessary to estimate the influence of the new struc-
ture on the existing one, which is often difficult to as-
sess, especially for water sensitive materials. For the
old and new road or rail embankments the main re-
sponsibility for the infrastructure owner is how to
know when the maintenance works should be done.
The asset management systems can be a contribution
for the problem (Sloan et al. 2000).
Nevertheless, whatever the problem is, sustainable
principles should be always applied making design
and construction choices compared and evaluated in
terms of energy efficiency, carbon emissions, costs
and societal benefits for a period of life.
8 CONCLUSIONS
Geotechnical planning, design, construction in an
early phase of the infrastructure project can signifi-
cantly contribute to the overall sustainable develop-
ment by making sustainable choices in the several
components of the project. These choices include
strategies, materials, technologies and innovations
that can be summarised for several components as
follow:
61
Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development
earthworks: water economy, reduction of CO2
emissions, waste control by reuse and incorporat-
ing as much as possible natural geomaterials as
well as taking advantage of long term behaviour of
treated soils, and optimisation of earthworks tasks
by maximising productivity and minimising costs,
as well as minimising energy consumption and
emissions generated in the extraction, processing,
and transportation,
recycled and novel materials: promoting their use
through performance tests by checking engineer-
ing and environmental behaviour contributing in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy con-
sumption, and long term economic benefits,
accelerated construction by compaction technolo-
gies: intelligent compaction, high energy com-
pactors and advanced roller technologies with real
time measurements resulting in higher quality with
significant impacts mainly for long term perfor-
mance of earth structures reducing future mainte-
nance,
design: move from merely empirical procedures
towards mechanistic approaches based on a
sounder theoretical basis. This is essential to fa-
cilitate the sustainable use of new materials in
transportation infrastructure under various climatic
and traffic (load and speed) conditions. The final
goal being an holistic design approach addressing
environmental, societal, economic and resilience
issues, through mechanistic approaches, cycle life
analysis, as well as risk analysis.
quality control: natural soils and aggregates have
standard tests for obtaining physical and mechani-
cal characteristics for the different applications.
However, such background does not exist for the
recycled materials what justify performance as-
sessment, mainly by mechanical and environmen-
tal tests in laboratory and in the field. Instrumenta-
tion on the compaction equipment allows 100%
quality control coverage leading to the effective
implementation of warrantees and guarantees for
both earthworks and granular layers,
maintenance: if done in proper time it extends the
service and structural life, considering eventual
extreme events for critical infrastructures.
In summary the application of geotechnical engi-
neering in transportation infrastructure works can
improve sustainability by reduction of energy con-
62
sumption, greenhouse gases emissions, natural re-
sources consumption, increasing service life and
more cost-effective solutions. However, it should be
taken in mind that sustainability is not a goal, but a
process of continuous improvement according to the
needs and the context which can vary in time and
space.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank the colleagues Mike
Winter, Anand Puppala, Ivan Vanek and Jean-
Pierre Magnan for the supporting documents that
were very useful to prepare this paper.
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