PA Engenharia Natural - Carlo Bifulco

Carlo Bifulco 1,3, Anabela Marcos Pereira 1,3, Vera Calado Ferreira 2, Ana Pinto Mota 2,

Lara Rodrigues Martins 2 , and Francisco Castro Rego 1

1 Centro Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, InBIO,

Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

2 Infraestruturas de Portugal S.A., Almada, Portugal

3 APENA, Lisboa, Portugal

Renewing dangerous slopes

(Malveira junction, A21 highway, Portugal)

November 2014

January 2013

Main Objective Showing that soil bioengineering is a good tool to

build new landscapes and to solve geotechnical

issues on slopes, even in Portugal, with a

Mediterranean climate and long periods of water

scarcity.

Carlo Bifulco et al. - Renewing dangerous slopes (Malveira junction, A21 highway, Portugal)

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Algeria

Turkey

Sweden

Ukraine

Spain

France

FinlandNorway

Italy

PolandGermany

Morocco

Syria

Byelarus

Romania

Tunisia

United Kingdom

Latvia

Serbia

Greece

Bulgaria

Austria

Ireland

Hungary

Jordan

Portugal

Lithuania

Estonia

Croatia

Slovakia

Czech RepublicBelgium

MoldovaSwitzerland

Albania

Denmark

Netherlands

Israel

Cyprus

Lebanon

West Bank

N

EW

S

Malveira

Specific Objectives

Showing results of several techniques in a large

project, carried out with autochthones species, in

order to obtain consolidation, stabilization and erosion

control, in grounds with irregular moisture.

Showing how we dealt with technical and working

issues related to soil bioengineering projects

on slopes, in Portugal.


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Soil bioengineering in Portugal, a Mediterranean region

Until now in Portugal, SB main projects were implemented

in Lisbon, in the forest park of Monsanto, and during the

development of INTERREG projects PROGECO,

RIPIDURABLE, RICOVER.

The main objective of those demonstrative SB projects

was reinforcing stream banks along water streams and

lake shore.

This abundance of project on water stream could be

linked to the investments of

basin authorities along those

areas, and to the easy results

obtained in ground with

permanent moisture. 4


PROGECO project 2006 (PROGECO)

Issues about Malveira junctions slopes

No plant cover. Intercalation of arenite layers with clay,

less permeable. Occurrences of differential erosion.

Suspended water levels present.

Temporary water runoffs. Broad deep gully erosion.

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Malveira 2013 Malveira 2013


No plant cover. Broad deep gully erosion.

Deposit of fine clay on road surface

from silted surface drainage system.

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Rock mobilization. Temporary water runoffs.

Deep gully erosion.

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Malveira 2012 Malveira 2013 Malveira 2013


Collapsed platforms and drainage system.

Landslides.

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The soil bioengineering project

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Sowings with Straw Mat

Hedge Brush Layers

Vegetated Gabions

Mats

Shrub Planting

and Sowings

with Straw Mulch

Vegetated Gabions

Vegetated

Wooden Weirs

Living Combs Hydroseedings

Hydroseedings on Geogrid

Sowings with Straw Mat

Vegetated platform

“the Portuguese”

Reshaping slopes and some riprap before SB works

The soil bioengineering project

Plant species used (shrubs and grasses) where

previously investigated and tested in CEABN researches

(in progress since 2012)

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Santo Tirso 2014

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May 2014 June 2014

July 2014 July 2014

May 2014

July 2014

Issues due to work period

An unsuitable period to implement soil bioengineering

Issues due to work period

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3 months STANDARD PRECIPITATION INDEX (SPI3)

of Western Rivers Basin, February 2014 - June 2015

(elaborated on data from IPMA, 2015)

Slope

reshaping

and rip rap

Soil

bioengineering

Monitoring

Results of implemented works

Sowings with straw mat (implemented in June-July 2014 not irrigated)

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Sowings with straw mat, on second,

third, fourth, and fifth slope step, July

2014

Sowings with straw mat, on third slope

step. Herbaceous cover of both

gramineous and leguminosae

April 2015


Hydroseeding (implemented in October and December 2014, not irrigated)

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Carrying out hydroseeding on the slope,

December 2014

Herbaceous cover of only gramineous

on the slope steps processed with

hydroseeding, May 2015;

slope surfaces not green are rocky

arenites, intentionally not treated


Hedge brush layers (implemented in July 2014, drip watered until September 2014)

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Hedge brush layers and the

unprocessed slope, March 2015 Hedge brush layers

implementation, end of July 2014


Shrub planting (associate to sowings with straw mulch) (implemented in October 2014 not irrigated)

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On the left, shrub planting and sowing

with straw mulch, January 2015

Shrub planting and sowing with straw mulch,

May 2015


Vegetated Gabions (implemented in May-July 2014 drip watered

until September 2014)

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Vegetated gabions (middle steps), June 2015

Vegetated gabions (upper steps) ,June 2015

Vegetated gabions (lower steps), June 2015


Vegetated wooden weirs (implemented at end July 2014, drip watered until September 2014)

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Vegetated wooden weirs after the

construction July 2014

Vegetated wooden weirs June 2015


Living Combs and Vegetated Gabions Mats (implemented at end July 2014, drip watered until September 2014)

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Temporary water runoffs treated with

vegetated gabions mats and live combs,

June 2015

Rooted cuttings on the side of

vegetated gabions mats, June 2015

Conclusions…..

Many verbs to indicate projects and works on landscapes,

all composed by re(again)+otherverb (Collins, 2005)

(Re+)qualification (qualis+facere = quality description) (when

someone qualifies they pass examination they need to work in a particular profession)

Re+habilitation (used for legal or health issues) (to rehabilitate

someone who has been ill or in prison means to help them to live a normal life again)

Re+storation (re+instaurare) (to restore someone or something to a previous

state or condition means to cause them to be in the previous state or condition again)

Re+cover (re+cupere = reacquisition of what was lost) (When

you recover from an illness or an injury, you become well again. If you recover something that

has been lost or stolen, you find it or get it back.)

But could be the implemented a situation equal to the previous?

Re+novation (re+novare) (If someone renovates an old building or machine, they

repair it and get it back into good condition)

Re+new (re+novare) (You can say that something is renewed when it grows or

succeeds again after a time when it was destroyed, lost, or failing)

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Conclusions…..

Soil bioengineering showed all its effectiveness, even

on Portuguese Mediterranean slopes.

Hedge brush layers, shrub planting associated to

sowings with straw mulch, cuttings in vegetated

gabions and in vegetated wooden weirs had a great

success.

Results are one more time positive, considering that

seeds, cuttings and plants were planted in a soil

obtained from deep excavations and without any

humus.

Even carried out in the worst season, the project

outcomes can be considered positive and satisfactory.

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Conclusions…..

If the project had been carried out in the due season,

it would have an even better success.

This pilot project experiments on slopes new

technologies for Portugal, that are more economic

than a project built with structures of concrete.

Better landscapes, cost savings and technical results,

even under meteorological difficult conditions, give

us the hope that this is just a first application of

techniques that will be used in large-scale in Portugal.

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November 2014

November 2015

November 2015

The project

was nominated for the

Green Project awards

Portugal 2015

http://gpa.pt/candidaturas/finalistas/

Documents

PA Engenharia Natural - Carlo Bifulco