Plant-Soil Slope Interaction

This inter-disciplinary book provides the latest advanced knowledge of plant effects on vegetated soil properties such as water retention capability, water permeability function, shear strength, slope hydrology, movements and failure mechanisms, and applies this knowledge to the solution of slope stability problems. It is the first book to cover in detail not only the mechanical effects of root reinforcement but more importantly the hydrological effects of plant transpiration on soil suction, soil shear strength, and water permeability. The book also offers a fundamental understanding of soil-plant-water interaction.

Analytical equations are provided for predicting the combined hydrological and mechanical effects of plant roots on slope stability. A novel method is also given for simulating transpiration-induced suction in a geotechnical centrifuge. Application of this method to the study of the failure mechanisms of vegetated slopes reinforced by roots with different architectures is discussed.

This book is essential reading for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers in civil engineering, geo-environmental engineering, plant ecology, agricultural science, hydrology and water resources. It also provides advanced knowledge for civil engineers seeking "green" engineering solutions to combat the negative impact of climate change on the long-term engineering sustainability of infrastructure slopes. Professionals other than civil engineers, such as ecologists, agriculturists, botanists, environmentalists, and hydrologists, would also find the book relevant and useful.

Professor Charles W. W. Ng, PhD, CEng, FICE, FASCE, FHKIE, FHKEng

Professor Ng is an Associate Vice-President for Research and Development and the CLP Holdings Chair Professor of Sustainability in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Bristol in 1993 and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge between 1993 and 1995. He returned to Hong Kong and joined HKUST as an Assistant Professor in 1995, rose through the ranks to become a Chair Professor of civil and structural engineering in 2011 and was conferred the CLP named chair in 2017. Professor Ng was elected as the President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) in September 2017 for a four-year term.

Professor Ng was also elected as an Overseas Fellow at Churchill College, the University of Cambridge, in 2005 and a Changjiang Scholar (Chair Professor of geotechnical engineering) by the Ministry of Education of China in 2010. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (FHKIE), and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (FHKEng). Currently, he is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, an Editor of Landslides, and an editorial board member of many other international journals.

Professor Ng has published some 300 SCI journal articles and 230 conference papers and delivered more than 50 keynotes and state-of-the-art reports worldwide. He also delivered the 2017 Huangwenxi Lecture (黄文熙讲座) on "Atmosphere-plant-soil Interactions: Theories and Mechanisms" organized by the Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and held at Tsinghua University, Beijing. The Huangwenxi Lecture is the most prestigious named geotechnical lecture in China. He is also the main author of two reference books: (i) Soil-structure Engineering of Deep Foundations, Excavations and Tunnels and (ii) Unsaturated Soil Mechanics and Engineering. He has supervised 46 PhD and 42 MPhil students to graduation since 1995.

Professor Anthony K. Leung, PhD

Professor Leung is an Assistant Professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST. Prior to his appointment at HKUST, he was a Lecturer (2012-2016), and subsequently promoted to a Senior Lecturer (2016-2018), in civil engineering at the University of Dundee, UK. Professor Leung is currently the Associate Director of the Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility at HKUST and the Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin of the ISSMGE. He is an editorial board member of various major international journals including the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Landslides and Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers--Geotechnical Engineering. Over the last 10 years, he has published more than 40 SCI journal articles in the field of soil bioengineering and its application to soil slope stabilisation.

Dr Jun-jun Ni, PhD

Dr Jun-jun Ni is a postdoctoral fellow at HKUST. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at Hohai University, Nanjing, China, prior to obtaining his PhD degree at HKUST in 2017. His research interests include field monitoring, laboratory testing and numerical modelling of atmosphere-plant-soil interaction and its effects on the engineering performance of soil slopes and landfill covers. Dr Ni has published in prominent journals such as Géotechnique, the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and Computers and Geotechnics.