Modelling and simulation of instabilities in unsaturated soils due to wetting (2012-2014)

Ground stability ultimately depends on cycles of drying and wetting. For instance, during rains, floods or leakage of buried installations, heavy wetting can cause internal instabilities and the eventual collapse of roads, embankments, dams, or slopes. This research aims to predict ground instability problems due to wetting by means of risk assessment techniques. To this end, a robust and rational calculation framework will be developed based on the theory of unsaturated soils. However, this theory still has limitations. These problems will then be corrected in order to eliminate any uncertainties. Methods, including parallel computing, will be developed in order to simulate very large-scale problems.