Quantifying Impact of Soil Strength Degradation on Long-term Slope Stability

Soil slopes are integral to embankments, levees, bridge abutments, and natural terrain, and form a vital component of transportation infrastructure, highways, railways, and waterways. Soil strength degrades gradually with time due to unfavorable environmental conditions (e.g., water saturation, wet-dry cycles, freeze-thaw cycles, erosion, and chemical/biological degradation). Soil strength degradation increases chances of slope failures, which will pose significant safety risks to both human and transportation infrastructure. The primary objective of this project is to produce actionable procedures that facilitate the assessment of soil strength degradation tailored to unfavorable environmental conditions, quantify the impact of soil strength degradation on long-term slope stability, and provide informed decision-making procedures for slope safety and economics. The methodology involves a comprehensive review of literature and findings from related projects including the ongoing Mid-America Transportation Center (MATC) project at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). This project will evaluate the soil strength degradation models for different fill materials and their interactions with reinforcement and chemical binders under unfavorable environmental conditions considering the key influence factors. Utilizing numerical software, this project will assess the performance of soil slopes with different fill materials and mitigation methods changing with time by considering soil strength degradation under unfavorable environmental conditions. This project will also perform Life Cycle Cost Analysis to assess all costs incurred during the life of a project, such as initial design, construction, maintenance, repair, and re-construction with different fill materials and construction/mitigation methods.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $180,096.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348307

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Bruner, Britain

• Performing Organizations:

  Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla

  Department of Engineering
  202 University Center
  Rolla, MO    65409
• Principal Investigators:

  Han, Jie

• Start Date: 20260601
• Expected Completion Date: 20270531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Degradation failures; Fills; Life cycle costing; Numerical analysis; Slope stability; Soil stabilization; Soil structure interaction
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01989527
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348307
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: May 19 2026 1:42PM