68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

INITIAL MONITORING OF INSTRUMENTED TEST SECTIONS ALONG THE INUVIK-TUKTOYAKTUK HIGHWAY

Session: Infrastructure Performance in Cold Regions / Performance des infrastructures en régions nordiques

Earl Marvin De Guzman, University of Manitoba (Canada)
Aron Piamsalee, University of Manitoba (Canada)
Marolo Alfaro, University of Manitoba (Canada)
Lukas Arenson, BGC Engineering Inc. (Canada)
Guy Doré, Université Laval (Canada)
Don Hayley, Independent Consultant (Canada)

There are uncertainties related to the mechanical behaviour of embankments that were initially compacted with frozen fill and then experienced natural thawing and settlements during the summer following construction. Side-slope sloughing and fill cracking may occur because of localized thaw settlements under the shoulders and side slopes of the embankment. Two instrumented test sections were constructed side by side along the new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway and are being continuously monitored after its construction to study these uncertainties. This paper presents the initial monitoring recorded from the completion of the test sections. Test Section A, the control section, is an unreinforced slope section conforming to the original design of the road embankment. Test Section B is a reinforced slope section with geotextile layers at the slope acting as its reinforcement. Section A and Section B are both instrumented with thermistors for temperature readings, ShapeAccelArrays for the vertical and horizontal deformation monitoring, vibrating wire piezometers for pore water pressures, and thermal conductivity sensors for matric suctions. Strain gauges were also installed in the geotextile reinforcements for Section B to measure the deformations in the geotextile layers.