Improved Permafrost Protection using Air Convection and Ventilated Shoulder Cooling Systems - Final Project Report

This report focuses on the effectiveness of air convection embankments (ACE) and ventilated shoulder (VS) cooling systems designed to cool foundation soils and preserve permafrost beneath roadway embankments. The three main sections of the report include a literature review, an analysis of field data from Thompson Drive and the Alaska Highway Dot Lake test site, and a discussion of techniques for modeling ACE and VS structures

ROADS AND AIRFIELDS CONSTRUCTED ON PERMAFROST: A Synthesis of Practice

This synthesis provides the practicing engineer with the basic knowledge required to build roadway and airports over permafrost terrain. Topic covered include an overview of permafrost, geotechnical investigations, slope stability, impacts of climate, and adaptation strategies during the design, construction and maintenance phases. The purpose of the synthesis is not to provide a comprehensive body of knowledge or to provide a complete how‐to manual. Rather the synthesis provides a working knowledge for those working in permafrost regions such that the practicing engineer will be able to work with subject matter experts to obtain the desired project outcomes

Minding rights: Mapping ethical and legal foundations of ‘neurorights’

The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty – often framed as “neurorights” in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, are taking an active interest in developing international policy and governance guidelines on this issue. However, in many discussions of neurorights the philosophical assumptions, ethical frames of reference and legal interpretation are either not made explicit or conflict with each other. The aim of this multidisciplinary work is to provide conceptual, ethical, and legal foundations that allow for facilitating a common minimalist conceptual understanding of mental privacy, mental integrity, and cognitive liberty to facilitate scholarly, legal, and policy discussions

Air Convection Embankment Experimental Feature Design

Prior research work (Goering and Kumar, 1996; and Goering, 1996) has indicated that Air Convection Embankments are a promising technique for limiting the thaw settlement damage that often occurs when roadway embankments are constructed in regions of warm permafrost. These studies lead to the proposal of a full-scale experimental Air Convection Embankment (ACE) to be constructed through the Federal Experimental Features in Construction Program. A work plan for including an ACE in the Parks/Chena Ridge Interchange project (Federal Project No. I-0A4-5(7), State of Alaska Project No. 63538) was forwarded and approved in 1994. This project report discusses the design and construction of the Parks/Chena Ridge ACE expermimental feature which occurred during 1996 and 1997.Abstract - iii Table of Contents - iv List of Figures - vi List of Tables - viii Acknowledgment - ix Chapter 1 Introduction - 1 Chapter 2 ACE Test Section Configuration 2.1 Test Section - 4 2.2 Control Section - 6 Chapter 3 Modelling Studies 3.1 Background - 10 3.2 Base Case - 13 3.3 3-Layer Case - 15 3.4 Closed Side-Slope Case - 17 3.5 Comparison - 18 Chapter 4 Material Testing/Aggregate Study - 49 Chapter 5 Embankment Construction - 52 Chapter 6 Data Logging System Installation and Initial Data Collection - 58 Chapter 7 Conclusions - 63 Chapter 8 References - 6

Improved Permafrost Protection Using Air Convection and Ventilated Shoulder Cooling Systems

This report focuses on the effectiveness of air convection embankments (ACE) and ventilated shoulder (VS) cooling systems designed to cool foundation soils and preserve permafrost beneath roadway embankments. The four main sections of the report include a literature review, an analysis of field data from the Thompson Drive Experimental Feature near Fairbanks, an analysis of data from the Alaska Highway Dot Lake Experimental Feature site, and a discussion of techniques for modeling ACE and VS structures using the GeoSlope Temp/W modeling package. Fifteen years (2005-2020) of data from the Thompson Drive site are analyzed using contour plots of average annual temperatures within the embankment and underlying foundation soils along with time series of temperature behavior at specific locations throughout the embankment test sections. Similarly, data from the Alaska Highway site is analyzed over a three-year period (June 2017 to May 2020) by examining average annual temperatures at an array of measurement points within the embankment test sections and underlying soils. In all cases the data indicates a strong overall cooling influence, particularly in the layers underlying the VS structures