Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (11)

Exploring the Use of Rock Flour for Sustainable Peat Stabilisation (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bernal-Sanchez, J., Coll, J., Leak, J., & Barreto, D. (2024, February). Exploring the Use of Rock Flour for Sustainable Peat Stabilisation. Presented at Geo-Congress 2024, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

This paper aims to investigate the mechanical behaviour of peat stabilised with glacial rock flour for foundation construction. Peat, a natural organic soil, presents challenges for construction due to its high compressibility and low bearing capacit... Read More about Exploring the Use of Rock Flour for Sustainable Peat Stabilisation.

A Grading Entropy Review of PSD-Based Frost Susceptibility Criteria (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leak, J., Barreto, D., Wright, C., Bernal Sanchez, J., & Imre, E. (2024, February). A Grading Entropy Review of PSD-Based Frost Susceptibility Criteria. Presented at Geo-Congress 2024, Vancouver, British Columbia

Particle size distribution (PSD) is recognised among geotechnical engineers as an informative soil descriptor, and often used to predict geomechanical behaviours. However, the effectiveness of PSD to characterise frost action is debatable. Existing c... Read More about A Grading Entropy Review of PSD-Based Frost Susceptibility Criteria.

Carbon impact & mitigation of housing developments on peatlands in the UK - A case study (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bernal-Sanchez, J., & Gaspari, A. (2023, June). Carbon impact & mitigation of housing developments on peatlands in the UK - A case study. Presented at 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, Chania, Greece

Peatlands are a key asset in the drive to reduce annual carbon emissions due to their potential as a carbon sink. This is especially important in Scotland where 25% of the land is covered by peat. Peatlands have historically been considered wasteland... Read More about Carbon impact & mitigation of housing developments on peatlands in the UK - A case study.

Rubber-soil mixtures: use of grading entropy theory to evaluate stiffness and liquefaction susceptibility (2023)
Journal Article
Bernal-Sanchez, J., Barreto, D., & Leak, J. (2023). Rubber-soil mixtures: use of grading entropy theory to evaluate stiffness and liquefaction susceptibility. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 21, 3777–3796. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-023-01673-3

Rubber-soil mixtures are known to have mechanical properties that enable their use in backfills, road construction or geotechnical seismic isolation systems. The complexity of these mixtures comes from adding soft (i.e. rubber) particles that increas... Read More about Rubber-soil mixtures: use of grading entropy theory to evaluate stiffness and liquefaction susceptibility.

Dynamic Behaviour of a Geotechnical Seismic Isolation System with Rubber-Sand Mixtures to Enhance Seismic Protection (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bernal-Sanchez, J., McDougall, J., Miranda-Manzanares, M., & Barreto, D. (2022, September). Dynamic Behaviour of a Geotechnical Seismic Isolation System with Rubber-Sand Mixtures to Enhance Seismic Protection. Presented at 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania

A Geotechnical Seismic Isolation (GSI) system is proposed in this study based on the use of Rubber-Soil mixtures (RSm) to facilitate the benefits of dynamic soil-foundation structure interaction. The latter is possible due to the lower stiffness and... Read More about Dynamic Behaviour of a Geotechnical Seismic Isolation System with Rubber-Sand Mixtures to Enhance Seismic Protection.

Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leitch, K., Bernal-Sanchez, J., & Macfarlane, R. (2022, September). Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision. Presented at 8th International Symposium for Engineering Education, Glasgow

This paper details the findings of a study undertaken at Edinburgh Napier University to assess the feasibility of developing an existing Graduate Apprentice programme in Civil Engineering to a MSc level. Using a mixed methods approach, data from a se... Read More about Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision.

Housing Construction On Peatland: Phase 1 Report (2021)
Report
Bernal-Sanchez, J., McDougall, J., Medero, G., Cook, D., & Barreto, D. (2021). Housing Construction On Peatland: Phase 1 Report. Edinburgh: Construction Scotland Innovation Centre

The economic development and social resilience of communities in rural Scotland is being hampered by a shortage of affordable housing. Nationally, about 23,000 new homes per year are needed, whilst in the year up to October 2018, only 18,000 were bui... Read More about Housing Construction On Peatland: Phase 1 Report.

Cyclic performance of rubber-soil mixtures to enhance seismic protection (2020)
Thesis
Bernal Sanchez, J. Cyclic performance of rubber-soil mixtures to enhance seismic protection. (Thesis). Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2683555

The disposal of scrap tyres has become a major environmental problem around the world. For its recovery, a geomaterial has been used as part of civil constructions, commonly known as Rubber-Soil mixture (RSm). The use of RSm has the potential to be u... Read More about Cyclic performance of rubber-soil mixtures to enhance seismic protection.

Experimental assessment of stiffness and damping in rubber-sand mixtures at various strain levels (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bernal-Sanchez, J., Mcdougall, J., Barreto, D., Marinelli, A., Dimitriadi, V., Anbazhagan, P., & Miranda, M. (2019, June). Experimental assessment of stiffness and damping in rubber-sand mixtures at various strain levels. Presented at 7th International Conference on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Rome

The dynamic properties of shredded rubber-soil mixtures (ShRm), comprising a sub-rounded quartz sand combined with small rubber shreds at 0, 10, 20, 30% by mass, were investigated. Testing ranged from small strain, in resonant column apparatus, to la... Read More about Experimental assessment of stiffness and damping in rubber-sand mixtures at various strain levels.

Particle-scale interaction in sand-rubber mixtures and their influence on energy dissipation mechanisms (2019)
Journal Article
Fonseca, J., Riaz, A., Bernal-Sanchez, J., Barreto Gonzalez, D., McDougall, J., Miranda Manzanares, M., Marinelli, A., & Dimitriadi, V. (2019). Particle-scale interaction in sand-rubber mixtures and their influence on energy dissipation mechanisms. Géotechnique Letters, 9(4), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgele.18.00221

Sand-rubber mixture (SRm) behaviour is affected by rubber content (RC) whilst dissipation in sands is caused by inter-particle sliding. Dissipation in SRm is as, or more significant than in sands. However, the mechanisms of dissipation in SRm are not... Read More about Particle-scale interaction in sand-rubber mixtures and their influence on energy dissipation mechanisms.

Dynamic behaviour of shredded rubber soil mixtures (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bernal-Sanchez, J., McDougall, J., Barreto Gonzalez, D., Miranda, M., & Marinelli, A. (2018, June). Dynamic behaviour of shredded rubber soil mixtures. Presented at 16th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Thessaloniki

Residential buildings in high population density areas are seismically vulnerable to the action of major seismic events. The high cost and technical difficulties related to the use of advanced seismic isolations systems precludes its installation to... Read More about Dynamic behaviour of shredded rubber soil mixtures.