Deterioration models for geotechnical slopes: a systematic review on the long-term behaviour of earthwork assets

Abstract

Deteriorating infrastructure slopes have significant implications for infrastructure management, as their performance and long-term behaviour can impact travel, costs, safety, and operational efficiency. Understanding the long-term behaviour and performance of geotechnical assets is crucial for effective asset management and proactive maintenance. This systematic review examines existing research on deterioration models to identify methodologies, monitoring techniques, and data collection approaches employed to analyse the behaviour of geotechnical assets over time. The review emphasizes the importance of understanding asset deterioration mechanisms, particularly those influenced by weathering, and their impact on the overall performance and long-term behaviour of geotechnical assets. By consolidating knowledge from the scientific literature, this study highlights the limited availability of comprehensive deterioration models for earthwork slopes but identifies a growing interest in studying factors and mechanisms that contribute to understanding long-term asset behaviour. The review underscores the significance of monitoring, instrumentation, and data collection to enhance our understanding of geotechnical asset deterioration and improve predictive capabilities. Additionally, a proposed framework is introduced for long-term analysis of geotechnical assets, advocating combining lab and field tests for precise soil characterization and developing deterioration models. This systematic review deepens the understanding of asset deterioration mechanisms and aids in decision-making for infrastructure resilience.