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Embankments

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Artificial mounds constructed using fills, soils, and/or rock to:

  1. (a)

    Raise infrastructure such as roads, railways, canals, and approaches to bridges above the level of low-lying ground to maintain gentle gradients.

  2. (b)

    Impound water in reservoirs.

  3. (c)

    Prevent ingress, or to deflect, flood water.

Embankments are constructed to make shallow gradients for infrastructures such as roads, railways, and canals across valleys and on approaches to bridges but also to impound water for reservoirs or protect low-lying ground from flooding (Helal 2017). The design and construction of embankments requires a proper understanding of the capability of the underlying soils to carry the imposed loads, suitable available materials, and the guarantee of post-construction stability (Cappa et al. 2017). This usually requires careful site investigation, monitoring, sampling, testing and modeling, evaluation of potential construction materials, and stability analyses before and during...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Resource Management, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Safieh Javadinejad

  2. Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

    Saied Eslamian

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

    Kaveh Ostad-Ali-Askari

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Khomeinishahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khomeinishahr, Iran

    Seyed Milad Mirramazani

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Iran

    Leyla Adel Zadeh

  6. Department of Architectural Engineering, Natanz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Natanz, Iran

    Moein Samimi

Authors
  1. Safieh Javadinejad
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  2. Saied Eslamian
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  3. Kaveh Ostad-Ali-Askari
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  4. Seyed Milad Mirramazani
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  5. Leyla Adel Zadeh
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  6. Moein Samimi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaveh Ostad-Ali-Askari .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  2. Independent Consultant, London, UK

    Brian Marker

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Javadinejad, S., Eslamian, S., Ostad-Ali-Askari, K., Mirramazani, S.M., Zadeh, L.A., Samimi, M. (2018). Embankments. In: Bobrowsky, P., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_105-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_105-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12127-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12127-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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