MSc Dissertation Project Titles 2010-11

MSc Geotechnical Engineering MSc Engineering Geology

This document contains details of the dissertation projects to be offered from within the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences on the above named programmes. In addition to the projects offered below students may choose to arrange their own project titles. In this case agreement must be sought with an academic supervisor prior to submission of this document. Without this agreement student arranged projects will not be accepted.

Project Number E1 E2

Project Title Stabilisation of Rail and Road embankments using Electrokinetics Laboratory assessment of cracking in engineered soil slopes and its impact on slope stability Development of sustainable geopolymer cements for the production of low carbon concrete Sustainable materials for ground improvement Potential for use of waste materials as alkali activators in geopolymer cemented soils and concretes Field and laboratory testing of a ground source heat monitoring station Mechanical characterization of soils under cyclic/dynamic loading using an advanced dynamic triaxial testing system Numerical simulation of a shaking table soil container Numerical simulation of the resonant column test in 2D FE modelling of the dynamic behaviour of a silo on a structured clayey deposit FE modelling of the transverse dynamic behaviour of tunnels in clayey soil deposits Densification effects on earthquake-induced liquefaction FE analysis of the seismic behaviour of an earth dam Numerical analysis of a trial embankment founded on soft structured clay Finite element analysis of laterally loaded fin caissons Experimental investigation of thermal conductivity in saturated soils Design of a flexible soil container for shaking table testing of soilstructure interaction problems Numerical investigation of tensile strength tests in rocks Investigation of factors affecting shrinkage and cracking in clay soils Numerical investigation of thermal borehole behaviour The numerical assessment of cracking in clay soils; application of an idealised numerical framework Investigation of landslide behaviour along the Yorkshire coast Electrokinetic Geosynthetics: A novel use as soil nails

Supervisor(s) Dr. Stephanie Glendinning Dr. Paul Hughes; Dr. Stephanie Glendinning; Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Paul Hughes Dr. Paul Hughes Dr. Paul Hughes Dr. Paul Hughes Dr. Gaetano Elia Dr. Gaetano Elia Dr. Gaetano Elia Dr. Gaetano Elia; Dr. Mohamed Rouainia Dr. Gaetano Elia; Dr. Mohamed Rouainia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia; Dr. Gaetano Elia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia; Dr. Gaetano Elia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia Dr. Mohamed Rouainia; Dr. Gaetano Elia; Dr. Sean Wilkinson Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Colin Davie Dr. Jean Hall

E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 E13 E14 E15 E16 E17

E18 E19 E20 E21 E22 E23

E24 E25 E26 E27 E28 E29 E30 E31

E32

Dewatering of mineral slurries using EK Geobags Effect of flocculation on electrosmotic performance in dewatering organic slurries Quarry industrial project: Mapping of intrusions Quarry industrial project: Engineering Geology considerations in the construction of a 300m glory hole Effect of electrokinetics on liquefaction potential in susceptible soils Geotechnical implications from the legacy of mining in NE England Comparison of the predicted performance of a helical screw pile foundation and the performance based on a tension pile test Comparison of the calculated embodied energy of three options considered for an improved interchange of the A19 and the A1058 Coats Rd Student Arranged Project

Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Jean Hall Dr. Mohamed Rouainia ARUP Dr. Stephanie Glendinning ARUP

New Project Titles: Project Number E33 E34 E35 E36 E37 E38 E39 E40 E41 Project Title Pore water pressures in embankments Determination of the wetting portion of the Soil Water Retention Curve Assessment of the response of components of landfill lining systems to exposure to landfill leachates Performance of drainage media/drainage systems in contact with landfill leachates Modelling gas production Modelling landfill leachate reactions Predictive integration of leachate and gas monitoring data Leachate treatment Ground engineering using waste materials Supervisor(s) Dr. Stephanie Glendinning Dr. Stephanie Glendinning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning Prof. D. Manning

Project E33 Project Title Pore water pressures in embankments Project Supervisor(s) Dr. Stephanie Glendinning Project Aim The aim of the project is to establish spatial, temporal and with -depth relationships between rainfall and pore water pressure in an embankment. Project Description Our climate is set to change significantly over the next century. EPSRC has recognised the importance of climate change and have introduced the Building Knowledge for a Climate Change (BKCC) programme. EPSRC and the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) are working together to fund consortia (academia and stakeholders) to study the potential long term impacts of climate change in the UK on the built environment, transport and utilities. The BIONICS project has received 1.2m of this funding to establish a research facility (a full-scale embankment) which will be fundamental to improving the understanding of the long-term impact of climate change on infrastructure embankments and inform industry and stakeholders of the adaptation strategies required to mitigate the effects. Students who selects this project will run full-scale tests at the BIONICS embankment and monitor the effects of the artificial rainfall on the pore water pressures using previously-installed instrumentation. Comparisons will be made between new data and data collected in previous years. This project is offered to up to 3 students. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E34 Project Title Determination of the wetting portion of the Soil Water Retention Curve Project Supervisor(s) Dr. Stephanie Glendinning Project Aim The aim of the project is develop to establish the wetting portion of the soil-water retention curve for the BIONICS embankment. Project Description (please refer to the introduction to the BIONICS embankment above) In unsaturated soils, such as fill materials in embankments, a key factor in the study of the pore water pressure generated in the soil is the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC). It is known that SWRC presents hysteric behaviour, meaning the SWRC obtained will be different depending on the path chosen to obtain the curve (drying or wetting). To obtain the primary wetting branch of the SWRC, the initial sample conditions must be a fully saturated; unsaturated starting conditions lead to the derivation of the scanning curve (representing a state between the primary drying curve and primary wetting curve). The SWRC can be determined by several means including the use of Filter paper, Pressure plate and tensiometers. You will be involved in laboratory work using one of these methods (if more than one student selects this project, each student will adopt a different method compare results) to determine the wet branch of the SWRC using, primarily, the fill material of the BIONICS embankment. The results of your work will feed into both the physical measurements of pore water pressure (see above) and the numerical simulation of pore water pressure (see projects offered by Dr. Colin Davie).

__________________________________________________________________________________________ MSc Landfill/Waste Management Group projects Project E35-E41

In recognition of the interests that many MSc students have in landfill and waste management, the School of Civil Engineering & Geosciences offers a number of projects that are coordinated within a Landfill/Waste Management Group of MSc students. The projects reflect the diversity of problems that are associated with landfill waste disposal sites, and relate closely to academic staff interests and experience in research, consultancy and commercial activity. Projects are coordinated in the sense that participating students undergo an initial 'crash course' in landfill systems, ideally including a site visit (but this cannot be guaranteed). Students work on their own specific project, attending project management meetings at regular intervals (typically 3 weeks) during the project period (May - August). At these meetings, students report progress to their peers and identify objectives to be completed by the next project meeting. Students provide feedback to each other, using a peer review system to enhance the quality of the work done. It is expected that projects will be carried out in collaboration with external bodies, including the Environment Agency. Where appropriate, local and national landfill site operators have provided access to sites in previous projects, and are expected to do so in future, although this CANNOT be guaranteed. Because of the likely involvement of outside bodies, it is essential that detailed plans involving requests for information, data, materials or site access are finalised as soon as possible in Semester 2. There are pre-requisites for projects involving laboratory work; no student may undertake experimental, analytical or testing work unless they can demonstrate that they have appropriate experience. Typical projects that have worked well in previous years are included in the list below:

Project E35 Project Title Assessment of the response of components of landfill lining systems to exposure to landfill leachates Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description An MSc project is long enough for experiments to be carried out to make an initial assessment of reactions that may take place in (a) clays and (b) geotextiles/geosynthetics used in landfill liners. Typically these projects include some of the following (not all!): lab experiments with chemical or mineralogical analysis of leachates and clays oedeometer or permeability tests on clays/geosynthetics structural tests on geotextiles/geomembranes. __________________________________________________________________________________________

Project E36 Project Title Performance of drainage media/drainage systems in contact with landfill leachates Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Calcium carbonate scale forms in pumps and pipes at all stages in a landfill system, and causes significant cost penalties to operators. It demonstrates the ability of leachate to precipitate carbonates, yet the Environment Agency still bans limestone aggregate as a drainage medium. Projects in this area typically include some of the following: lab studies of reactions between leachate and aggregate characterisation of solids formed in landfills geochemical modelling of routine monitoring data __________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E37 Project Title Modelling gas production Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Because of its methane content, landfill gas is recovered as a valuable product of waste putrefaction. Prediction of gas composition and volume is always difficult, but is essential from two points of view: (1) to predict qualities of gas that can be sold or used on site to generate electricity, and (2) to enable an operator to decide when a site has ceased gas generation and so can be deemed safe for further use. Generally not involving laboratory or site work, projects typically include: use of Landsim software to predict gas generation interpretation of gas generation histories for specific sites assessment of toxic or noxious components of landfill gas (e.g. hydrogen sulphide) __________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E38 Project Title Modelling landfill leachate reactions Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Landfill leachate is the noxious liquid that accumulates at the bottom of landfill cells. At an early stage in waste stabilisation, leachates are rich in organic matter and ammonium. As time goes on, the organic matter content decreases, but ammonium remains high. The changes in leachate composition with time provide an indication of the extent to which a landfill has reached a stable end point, and leachate compositions form an important part of any assessment of risk of pollution to surface and groundwaters. Projects include: interpretation of routine monitoring data to assess changes in composition with time geochemical modelling of monitoring data to assess controls on leachate composition analysis of leachates for specific purposes (but note that generally there is not enough time in an MSc project to carry out sufficient routine analysis of leachates)

__________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E39 Project Title Predictive integration of leachate and gas monitoring data Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Attempts to understand the processes that go on in a landfill often focus on either gas generation or leachate evolution with time. There are good practical reasons why it is difficult to integrate both sets of monitoring data for sites that operate normally. There are, however, data sets for two experimental sites (Brogborough and Stangate) that avoid most of the problems encountered with commercially operating sites. These provide an opportunity to investigate the coupled evolution of leachate and gas. Projects include: comparison of changes in landfill gas and leachate composition in time predictive modelling of gas composition from leachate composition integrated model for gas and leachate generation within a contained cell. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E40 Project Title Leachate treatment Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Landfill leachates cannot be discharged to sewer without treatment to remove potentially toxic components. Of these, the most important in terms of quantity and potential to cause harm is ammonium; leachate treatment facilities also remove dissolved methane, suspended solids and reduce organic loadings. A number of different projects might address issues concerning leachate treatment: electrolytic removal of ammonium precipitation of ammonium as struvite ammonium oxidation using microbial methods reedbed or soil treatments __________________________________________________________________________________________ Project E41 Project Title Ground engineering using waste materials Project Supervisor(s) Prof. D. Manning Project Description Many materials generated by industry have no obvious, immediate or established uses. Projects under this category explore possible new uses for such materials, and in the current economic/waste management climate offer scope for reducing waste and generating new income. Possible projects include: Engineered fill as potential carbon sink Brick dust as a soil amendment Labile organics as an alternative to chemical grouting __________________________________________________________________________________________