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Field investigation of erosion resistance of common grass species for soil bioengineering in Hong Kong

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Abstract

Grass cover is considered as a sustainable means of controlling soil erosion and enhancing durability of soil slopes. A number of grass species are commonly available for soil bioengineering in Hong Kong, but their capacities to control soil erosion have not been characterized quantitatively. The main objectives of this paper are to study the influence of soil density on characteristics of grass roots, to measure the erodibility parameters of the root-permeated soils at two growth stages, and to select the proper Hong Kong grass species that effectively control soil erosion. Three types of Hong Kong turf grass including Cynodon Dactylon, Paspalum Notatum, and Zoysia Matrella were planted on three soil grounds with degrees of compaction of 80, 90, and 100 %, respectively. The featural parameters of grass roots on each compacted ground, including root mass density, root volume density, and root depth, were measured in two growth stages. A jet index apparatus was applied to measure two erodibility properties (i.e., coefficient of erodibility and critical shear stress) of these vegetated soils in the two test stages. Cynodon Dactylon and Zoysia Matrella have higher root mass density values than Paspalum Notatum does, and reduce the susceptibility of soil erosion more effectively. Therefore, the two grass species are suggested for soil bioengineering in Hong Kong.

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Abbreviations

E :

Erosion rate of soil

τ e :

Effective shear stress at the soil–water interface

K d :

Coefficient of erodibility

τ c :

Critical shear stress at initiation of erosion

RMD:

Root mass density

M R :

Dry mass of roots

M S :

Dry mass of entire sample

RVD:

Root volume density

V R :

Volume of roots

V :

Volume of entire sample

J i :

Jet index

D s :

Averaged maximum depth of scour

U 0 :

Jet water velocity at the nozzle

H p :

Potential core length from the origin of the jet

H e :

Distance from the jet nozzle to the equilibrium depth of the scour

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was substantially supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (No. HKUST6/CRF/12R). Special thanks are due to Messrs Xun Huang, Miao Wang, Chenning Loong, Danqi He, and Guixu Xia for their kind assistance during the field tests at the HKUST Eco-Park.

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  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong

    H. Zhu & L. M. Zhang

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  1. H. Zhu
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Correspondence to L. M. Zhang.

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Zhu, H., Zhang, L.M. Field investigation of erosion resistance of common grass species for soil bioengineering in Hong Kong. Acta Geotech. 11, 1047–1059 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-015-0408-6

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