The effects of vegetative cover in the erosion prevention of a road slope

Abstract

Presents the studies performed to evaluate the performance of rolled erosion control products (RECPs) in the prevention of sheet erosion in a road cut slope, under simulated rain conditions. The four different covers used were: ARP 430 – vegetative screen, ARP‐440 – biotextil screen, grass mulch geotextil, control 1 (no rolled product and no vegetation), and control 2 (only grass vegetation and no rolled product). A road slope with dimensions of 47.20m in length, an average height of 7.68m and slope angle of 45° in red podzolic soil was chosen to perform this experiment, due to its edaphics and climatic similarity to most existing Brazilian road slopes found in south and south‐east regions. The erosion parameters were evaluated along the experiment for 360 days. Two simulated rains were performed at 330 days and at 360 days of the experiment. A rain intensity of 65mm/h was chosen to simulate the actual rain conditions in the area. Physical and chemical characterization, fertilization testing and erosion studies were performed to better evaluate the most appropriate conditions for vegetative growth and erosion prevention udner tropical climate conditions.