Soils display strain rate dependant behaviour which has implications for the understanding of a wide range of geotechnical events. However, the current understanding of the results of varying strain rate on soil behaviour are often ignored in design, field studies, laboratory testing and soil mechanics frameworks. Where previous work to understand rate effects has been undertaken it focuses on relatively low strain rates or narrow ranges of strain rates that do not reflect the rates of field events. In addition several field testing techniques rely on the evaluation of rate effects for analysis. These parameters are often derived from costly field studies or specialised laboratory testing. It is the intention through this proposal to examine the behaviour of fine grained soils over a wide range of strain rates whilst varying soil composition. This approach will identify both behaviour at key strain rates and allow understanding of what the main controlling factors are at soil micro structural level. This will be achieved through the use of high speed monotonic triaxial testing with on-sample strain and pore pressure measurement. In parallel the soils will be characterised using simple standardised laboratory testing techniques. The high strain rate testing and standard testing will then be compared to develop a predictive framework which will allow the determination of soil rate potential from standardised laboratory tests without the need for specialised testing or empirical studies. This research study will lead to improved understanding of what soil properties influence rate effect potential and how to quantify them which will be exploitable by academics and industry alike.

Structures in the marine context are exposed to an extremely aggressive environment. Serious risks arise to marine structures through a combination of chemical, biological, and physical actions, which may result in significant costs of ownership and use. These are not just at the level of millions of pounds annually for repair, rehabilitation, and replacement, but also for 'cleaning-up' the contamination that would inevitably arise from failure. Seawater contains a wide variety of dissolved inorganic material, of which the chloride ion in particular significantly influences the corrosion of marine structures. In the atmospheric exposure zone, air-borne chlorides are major factors responsible for the corrosion of the concrete structures. In the splash zone, chlorides, waves and tides make a major impact on the degree of corrosion experienced through both chemical and direct velocity effects from ocean currents. Wave loading on structures can be highly destructive, particularly during storms, combining as it does with loading from extreme wave action and high winds. In the tidal zone, chlorides and the growth of bio-organisms together play an important role in promoting the progression of corrosion effects as, for example, organisms can grow on the surface of concrete, and this may lead to microbial disintegration of concrete itself. In the submerged area in addition to chlorides, the physical characteristics of the seafloor sediments can affect the deterioration of concrete; for example, the grain size and packing factors of the sediments affect diffusion through the sediments which has a major impact on the availability of oxygen and other corrosive agents. Given these complex effects of the ocean discussed above, and the important effect on the resultant corrosion of marine structures, advanced research, suitably prioritised, for more effective corrosion monitoring and better control is required to safeguard the integrity of the structures and their components which are exposed to such an extreme environment. Therefore, an accurate assessment of the corrosion conditions at different stages is of vital importance both for the proper selection of longer life materials, durable and anti-corrosion coatings, and for effective corrosion control, and forms an important backdrop for the study in this novel research project. To tackle this vitally important area, this application has been developed collaboratively by two academic groups, which are active in complementary aspects of the field, working together to create new solutions to recognised problems in this extreme environment. The applicants consider that this can be done most effectively through enhanced monitoring systems being created to make better and longer term use of current infrastructure and resources and thus to extend the life of structures.

Structures in the marine context are exposed to an extremely aggressive environment. Serious risks arise to marine structures through a combination of chemical, biological, and physical actions, which may result in significant costs of ownership and use. These are not just at the level of millions of pounds annually for repair, rehabilitation, and replacement, but also for 'cleaning-up' the contamination that would inevitably arise from failure. Seawater contains a wide variety of dissolved inorganic material, of which the chloride ion in particular significantly influences the corrosion of marine structures. In the atmospheric exposure zone, air-borne chlorides are major factors responsible for the corrosion of the concrete structures. In the splash zone, chlorides, waves and tides make a major impact on the degree of corrosion experienced through both chemical and direct velocity effects from ocean currents. Wave loading on structures can be highly destructive, particularly during storms, combining as it does with loading from extreme wave action and high winds. In the tidal zone, chlorides and the growth of bio-organisms together play an important role in promoting the progression of corrosion effects as, for example, organisms can grow on the surface of concrete, and this may lead to microbial disintegration of concrete itself. In the submerged area in addition to chlorides, the physical characteristics of the seafloor sediments can affect the deterioration of concrete; for example, the grain size and packing factors of the sediments affect diffusion through the sediments which has a major impact on the availability of oxygen and other corrosive agents. Given these complex effects of the ocean discussed above, and the important effect on the resultant corrosion of marine structures, advanced research, suitably prioritised, for more effective corrosion monitoring and better control is required to safeguard the integrity of the structures and their components which are exposed to such an extreme environment. Therefore, an accurate assessment of the corrosion conditions at different stages is of vital importance both for the proper selection of longer life materials, durable and anti-corrosion coatings, and for effective corrosion control, and forms an important backdrop for the study in this novel research project. To tackle this vitally important area, this application has been developed collaboratively by two academic groups, which are active in complementary aspects of the field, working together to create new solutions to recognised problems in this extreme environment. The applicants consider that this can be done most effectively through enhanced monitoring systems being created to make better and longer term use of current infrastructure and resources and thus to extend the life of structures.

Our vision is to engage users in the design of control systems they like, that allow them to create the comfort conditions they want, and which through using the technology and fabric of their homes more effectively, reduces their energy use by 20%. We want to design and test these control systems in a way that complies with utilities' CERT-2 obligations, and provide design, installation and maintenance guidance which allows others to learn from our work and apply it more widely. We estimate this has the potential to save around 3 MT CO2 annually.Homes use about a third of the UK's energy, and produce about a third of all CO2 emissions. Because of the low rates of demolition, and the difference in efficiency between new and old houses, even if every house built from now to 2050 was zero-carbon, the total emissions from the UK housing stock would stay roughly the same. Any significant reductions must come from existing homes. In existing homes, making them comfortable (primarily through heating) uses around two thirds of their energy and carbon. We also know that how occupants' make their home comfortable, through use of the heating system, doors, windows, lighting, the clothes they wear, etc, has an enormous effect on energy use. Identical homes, with different occupants, can vary in energy use by a factor of two to three. Driving your home well can reduce your carbon footprint much more than installing wind turbines or solar panels. Currently, driving your home well is very hard to do. There's almost no feedback on the effect of leaving the bedroom window open at night, or having your thermostat at 21 C rather than 19 C. A quarterly energy bill provides almost no help so occupants' are currently 'driving blind' when it comes to saving energy or reducing their carbon footprint. This project aims to give them something to see with / forms of feedback on the energy costs of their actions which are immediate and in a form they themselves want. We will work with occupants, in their own homes, to understand what they would find useful. Using an action research approach and user centred design methods, we will understand their day to day comfort practices (i.e. how they drive their home) and design systems to help them drive it better, better in terms of comfort, spending less on energy and reducing their carbon footprint. Previous studies show that relatively simple forms of feedback, such as an LCD display showing instantaneous energy use, can help people save 5 to 15%. While these displays are good, they usually only display the total electricity used in the home, not on individual appliances, and they only provide information. In order for people to make changes they need three things: feedback (information on energy use); motivation (the desire to reduce energy use) and choice (the ability to act differently). There is scope to design technologies that provide all three of these - to provide occupants with systems for control that tell them what is using energy, what choices they have to use less, and do to so in a way they like to engage with. An approach targeting all three of these issues, and engaging users throughout the design process, has not been tried before but given previous studies, savings of 20% could reasonably be expected. The research is highly interdisciplinary and is based in field work involving lots of monitoring to ensure the technologies work and deliver real, measurable savings. The research team is a balance of technologists and social researchers and through working closely with householders, utilities and housing providers, we feel we can make a real contribution to understanding how people use energy to make their homes comfortable, and to develop control systems that can help them do this more effectively while saving on energy costs and reducing their carbon footprint.

Our current infrastructure cannot deliver the adaptable, low-carbon future planned by the Government. Existing stock does not make best use of resources and materials; flows of material in and out of the system are poorly understood; and greater vulnerability caused by increased reliance on scarce materials (e.g. rare metals) is ignored. Low carbon infrastructure is being planned without taking into account the availability of materials required to support it. Measures taken to change the properties (embodied carbon/energy, strength etc) of materials, taken in good faith, can have unpredictable effects on input, stock and output of scarce resources in infrastructure. Unfortunate policy decisions are already being taken that will lock us into costly solutions. Left untreated, this will throw up huge obstacles to developing a sustainable infrastructure. We need to fully understand the material barriers to achieving adaptable low carbon infrastructure and propose approaches and systems to overcome these barriers. We will enhance the established stocks and flows (S&F) methodology used in industrial ecology by adding layers of extra information on material properties and vulnerability. We will extend S&F to include measures of quality (in terms of material properties and age) and vulnerability (in terms of scarcity, geo-politics and substitutability). This will transform S&F from being concerned only with quantities of materials, to capturing quality and availability as well. This will in turn allow us to analyse how changes in the properties of the materials used in a system may introduce vulnerabilities, associated with materials supply, waste management or stock changes. More excitingly, it will allow us to design more resilient solutions 'designing out' pinch-points in materials supply; it will inform CO2 policy making to encourage best value for money emission reduction; and it will provide a robust new framework for analysis of complex interconnected infrastructure systems. This methodology will be tested on three case studies to refine the initial approach and demonstrate its applicability to the challenge described in this proposal. The case studies will include: - Some simple, proof-of-concept physical infrastructure systems (such as a bridge) - More detailed of a system; for example a power station; and - a system of systems; a place that interacts with a number of different infrastructure systems (for example a neighbourhood or city). The case studies will be analysed to identify existing stocks, assess the vulnerability of 'replacement' infrastructures and identify new proposals and solutions for alternative approaches. We recognise that the boundaries of the systems and flows may be difficult to define in this project. However, we consider that it would be more important to demonstrate the approach than to define the boundaries absolutely. This demonstration will help us to understand how this approach could be used by policy makers and decision makers and inform more detailed studies in the future. Some single sector stocks and flows studies have been performed, and the apparent vulnerability of particular material supplies has been established (e.g. DEFRA A review of resource risks to business) but these have not been 'joined together' to produce a full picture of the vulnerability and adaptability of infrastructure. The proposal is adventurous in that the development of the complex methodology required, while based on a combination of well-understood approaches (S&F, LCA etc), will be challenging and require intellectual clarity from three contrasting disciplines: materials science, industrial ecology and environmental engineering. Our aim is to produce a new, low carbon, adaptive design paradigm for hyper-efficient use of valuable materials. This will lead to a step change in resource use, reduce the vulnerability of future infrastructure, reduce CO2 emissions and enable adaptability.