One of most important engineering challenges of our generation is to ensure our infrastructure network is resilient to today's natural hazards and prepared for the future changing climate. In 2020, research funded by UNESCO revealed that by 2040, 19% of the world’s population could be affected by subsidence, the gradual sinking of land that could be caused by soil shrinkage as a direct result of climate change.
Current mitigating measures for low-rise building with shallow foundations are the removal of nearby vegetation (trees), which may not be advisable and cause further subsidence since tree roots will leave a void in the soil; injection of geo-polymer resin around the foundations of the infrastructure and underpinning for the most extreme circumstance. The majority of subsidence claims, around 70% on average, are allegedly tree related. Thus, the three standard solutions adopted in current practice are localized and hard engineering solution (not low carbon) and could also be very expensive, especially if underpinning is considered.
This project broadly aims to investigate alternative nature-based solutions to mitigate subsidence hazards by exploring remedial measures to diffusely promote ‘hydrological’ and ‘hydraulic’ reinforcement.
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