Plants and Geotechnics

One of the most important strength criteria for soils is Mohr-Coulomb criterion.

The latter is based on a relation between normal stresses and shear stresses, expressed as follow:

τ = σ*tan(φ') + c'

If vegetation is present in a soil, the Mohr-Coulomb criterion has to be modified in order to consider the effect of plant roots.

A concrete way to consider it is the addition of a term in Mohr-Coulomb criterion, as follow:

τ = σ*tan(φ') + c' + cr

where cr is the root cohesion.

The assessment of cr, and also the effect in soil permeability, is the subject of recent studies, representing a new research theme.

An entire conference was dedicated to this theme (presentations at this link).

Our research group is focused on the following main topics: