Abstract With the advent of climate change and extreme weather events, such weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable, and consequently, severe drought and flooding are unavoidable. During the Winter of 2019, extended heavy rains in Nebraska severely washed out roadbed materials in several places, which is an unexpected challenge for engineers to mitigate.<br /><br />This research proposal combines dedicated testing methods such as UNL ETB(University of Nebraska Lincoln Erosion Testing Bed) and hydrodynamics analysis (Flow3D) to obtain hydrodynamic rock shoulder that provides fast drainage and superior erosion protection at the surface but provide high strength below the surface.
Objective This study aims to find highly erosion resistant rock shoulder system by considering the hydrodynamical performance of individual and group aggregates through tests and analysis. Noting that similar studies are extremely infrequent, the findings of this research are expected to provide a solid foundation to bring the new, effective, and economical design of resilient roadbed and shoulder materials.
Impacts/Benefits The output of this research will provide a erosion resistant rock shoulder system, which will enhance the safety of the highway system and will promote the reduced maintenance work. Due to its fundamental hydrodynamics solution, the result may be applied to wide areas of the nation with minor modifications on findings.
Deliverables
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