ABSTRACT
Observations and numerical modeling of infraearthwork embankments and cuttings have revealed that these earthworks shrink and swell seasonally. Such shrink swell cycles can cause irrecoverable plastic strains and possibly some softening of the earthwork material. This softening could eventually lead to ultimate failure of the earthwork. It is therefore important to be able to accurately model these seasonal shrink swell cycles to determine the magnitudes of movements and so also the potential strain softening of the embankment or cutting material. In order to model the movements caused by seasonal pore pressure fluctuations the modeler must first be able to accurately predict the seasonal pore pressures.This paper outlines a method of first predicting the pore water fluctuations within a cutting using a 3D hydrological model SHETRAN. The surface pore pressure predictions obtained by SHETRAN were then transferred to a geotechnical numerical model FLAC two phase (tp) flow which is capable of modeling the earthworks response to these fluctuations.
