Geotechnical aspects of tunnelling in discontinuous rock, with particular reference to the lower chalk

Discontinuities, defined as breaks or interruptions of the mechanical properties of a solid, are recognised in the literature as being of vital importance in controlling the behaviour of rock during tunnelling. This thesis presents a detailed study of an experimental tunnel excavated in discontinuous rock (Lower Chalk) at Chinnor in Oxfordshire. The work falls into three main areas of study. Prior to tunnel excavation, detailed discontinuity surveys were carried out using an orthogonal scanline technique on exposed faces in the Chinnor quarry and in a 3m diameter shaft. This work, supported by subsequent surveys in the tunnel during its excavation- established - in numerical terms - the discontinuity characteristics of the Lower Chalk at Chinnor.p Ground behaviour during tunnel excavation was monitored in boreholes, and in a trench excavated across the tunnel line. Ground movement results, when viewed in the light of data obtained from finite element analyses, have emphasised the non-elastic discontinuous response of the ground. The actual behaviour of the ground at Chinnor was found to be equivalent to that of a material having a deformation modulus that was approximately l/20th of the Young's modulus of chalk determined from laboratory tests on intact samples. This modulus reduction was a direct result of the interaction between the tunnel excavation system and the discontinuous ground. Having established the role of discontinuities in controlling the behaviour of the ground during tunnelling, and recognising the importance of discontinuity spacing as an index of discontinuity frequency, a detailed study of various statistical and geotechnical aspects of discontinuity spacings in rock is presented. The distribution of discontinuity spacing values obtained from measurements in three tunnels in the UK was found to closely follow a negative exponential distribution. The implications of this relation are that a single parameter expression can be, adopted to describe the discontinuity spacing characteristics. By integrating this expression between the appropriate limits, a formula giving a precise value for the RQD (Rock Quality Designation) of the reck exposed can be obtained. In addition, important conclusions concerning optimum sample size and precision can be made once the discontinuity spacing distribution has been described in these simple mathematical terms. Subsidiary to the three main areas of study outlined above, three additional peripheral subjects are considered. These include an evaluation of the hydrological characteristics of the chalk and an examination of chalk cutability. In addition, data concerning the shear strength characteristics of discontinuity surfaces in the chalk (obtained from laboratory tests) are incorporated in an analysis of stability near the tunnel at Chinnor, using a computer program on file at the University of Durham

Flood risk management and ‘fairness’: aspirations and reality

Flood risk management in United Kingdom has been going through a process of rapid change in the last decade or so, no doubt spurred on by a series of very serious floods since the year 2000. These changes affect flood defence and non-structural flood risk management measures alike, and involve a degree of devolution from central government to local communities and regional organisations, as central government seeks to shed responsibilities for policy implementation. This paper discusses three case studies concerning flood defence, property level protection, approaches to social justice. The results show a different pattern in each area, with flood defence moving somewhat towards a Rawlsian approach, but flood insurance and property level protection showing signs of both inefficiency and poor penetration, respectively, particularly with regard to low income residents, especially those in social housing

Strategic use of instruments of land policy for mobilising private land for flood risk management

The focus on private land of this special issue points at a “policy delivery gap” (Moss, 2008) and the instruments by which to overcome it. Whereas the technical and hydrological functions of land in flood risk management are relatively well known, there remain considerable gaps in the understanding of how to mobilise the required land resources and overcome, respectively prevent, flood-related conflicts in land use (Edelenbos et al., 2013; Morris et al., 2016). As most studies focus on case and context specific solutions, gaining a more comprehensive and generic understanding of the different options and mechanisms of leveraging land for floods is an important task for research and policy practice alike. This cross-disciplinary edited collection brings together research from the natural, technical, legal and social sciences to provide an encompassing instrumental perspective of mobilising land in the context of flood risk management. The core aim of this volume is to explore solutions to this pertinent issue in the broadening policy paradigm

Library of Coastal Vulnerability Indicators guidance document

The Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts – Toolkit (RISC-KIT) FP7 EU project (2013-2017) aims to produce a set of three innovative and EU-coherent open-source and open-access methods, tools and management approaches (the RISC-KIT) in support of coastal managers, decision-makers and policy makers to reduce risk and increase resilience to low-frequency, high impact hydro-meteorological events. Risk is defined within this project as the product of the probability of a hazard, the exposure of receptors and their vulnerability. Representing the vulnerability and the potential role of DRR in their reduction is crucial for supporting the decision. As such a specific task of the RISC-KIT project (Task 2.2) is dedicated to developing a Library of Vulnerability Indicators to input in the RISC-KIT Toolkit and to test the tools on 11 case studies. The deliverable “Coastal Vulnerability Indicator Library” is composed of a Microsoft Excel database and a guidance document. The deliverable introduces the necessary concepts and methods, provides a review and a collection of existing indicators and proposes methodologies for developing new indicators. The Library has been constructed around four categories: Built Environment, Population, Ecosystem and Systems. The Library also identifies Disaster Reduction Measures influencing vulnerability and proposes methods to include within the assessment of vulnerability

Shaping flood risk governance through science-policy interfaces: insights from England, France and The Netherlands

In the face of increasing threats from flooding, there are growing calls to strengthen and improve arrangements of flood risk governance (FRG). This endeavour requires an appreciation of the multitude of factors stabilising and driving governance dynamics. So-called catalyst flood events, policy champions and advocacy coalitions have tended to dominate this study to date, whilst the potential role played by Science Policy Interfaces (SPIs) has been somewhat neglected and often approached in a reductionist and fragmented way. This paper addresses this gap by drawing from in-depth policy analysis and stakeholder interviews conducted within England, France and the Netherlands under the auspices of the EU-FP7 STAR-FLOOD project. The analysis reveals four prominent ways in which SPIs shape FRG, by i) facilitating the diversification of Flood Risk Management (FRM) strategies; ii) increasing their connectivity, iii) facilitating a decentralisation of FRM and iv) fostering inter-country learning. It identifies different roles of specific interfaces (structures) and interfacing mechanisms (processes) in shaping governance dynamics. This way, the analysis reveals various ‘entry points’ through which SPIs can steer FRG, either along existing pathways, or towards new and potentially transformative change. The study shows that SPIs are a hitherto underexposed factor explaining dynamics in flood risk governance which merits additional systematic empirical study

A fluorescent mutant of the phosphorus-solubilizing fungus Penicillium bilaiae to image rhizosphere growth

Non-Peer ReviewedNovozymes manufactures and markets a phosphate inoculant, JumpStart®, based on the phosphorus-solubilizing fungus Penicillium bilaiae. We are developing a mutant of this fungus that expresses the DsRed-Express fluorescent protein, which will be used as a research tool to allow us to see where and how P. bilaiae interacts with plant roots

Coastal risk assessment framework guidance document

The Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts – Toolkit (RISC-KIT) FP7 EU project (2013-2017) aims to produce a set of three innovative and EU-coherent open-source and open-access methods, tools and management approaches (the RISC-KIT) in support of coastal managers, decision-makers and policy makers to reduce risk and increase resilience to low-frequency, high impact hydro-meteorological events. The Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) is the first element of the risk assessment suite applied at a regional scale and permits a comprehensive and systematic approach to undertaking risk assessment at a variety of levels of detail. In particular, the approach reveals potential hotspots along the coasts. Hotspots are defined in the Toolkit as specific locations where high-resolution modelling and risk assessment are required to assess the coastal risk and to design and compare disaster risk reduction measures. As such, hotspots, or groups of hotspots, should be indicative of those areas where risk is highest. To do so the CRAF consists of a 2-phase approach, Phase 1 is a coastal-index approach to identifying potential hotspots, whereas Phase 2 utilises a suite of more complex modelling processes to rank these hotpots. The coastal INtegrated DisRuption Assessment model (INDRA) has specifically been developed as an open-source and open-access model for this purpose. This document provides guidance to CRAF users on both approaches, as well as explanations on the proposed methodologies. The CRAF is a prototype and will be trialled on the RISC-KIT case studies (WP5). Limitations in its application, the potential for a full application and the needs for further development will be discussed in Deliverable 5.1

Paraphrases and summaries: A means of clarification or a vehicle for articulating a preferred version of student accounts?

The use of group discussions as a means to facilitate learning from experiences is well documented in adventure education literature. Priest and Naismith (1993) assert that the use of the circular discussion method, where the leader poses questions to the participants, is the most common form of facilitation in adventure education. This paper draws on transcripts of facilitation sessions to argue that the widely advocated practice of leader summaries or paraphrases of student responses in these sessions functions as a potential mechanism to control and sponsor particular knowledge(s). Using transcripts from recorded facilitation sessions the analysis focuses on how the leader paraphrases the students’ responses and how these paraphrases or ‘formulations’ function to modify or exclude particular aspects of the students’ responses. I assert that paraphrasing is not simply a neutral activity that merely functions to clarify a student response, it is a subtle means by which the leader of the session can, often inadvertently or unknowingly, alter the student’s reply with the consequence of favouring particular knowledge(s). Revealing the subtle work that leader paraphrases perform is of importance for educators who claim to provide genuine opportunities for students to learn from their experience