Spatial and temporal progression of internal erosion in cohesionless soil

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Moffat ◽  
R. Jonathan Fannin ◽  
Stephen J. Garner

Permeameter tests were performed on four widely graded cohesionless soils, to study their susceptibility to internal erosion. Test specimens were reconstituted as a saturated slurry, consolidated, and then subjected to multi-stage seepage flow under increasing hydraulic gradient. The occurrence of internal instability is described qualitatively, from visual observations through the wall of the permeameter during a test and from post-test observations; it is also described quantitatively, from change of hydraulic gradient within the specimen and from axial displacement during a test. The results provide a novel insight into the spatial and temporal progression of seepage-induced internal instability. This insight yields an improved characterization of suffusion and suffosion in cohesionless soils, the progression of which appears governed by a critical combination of hydraulic gradient and effective stress.

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Moffat ◽  
R. Jonathan Fannin

Results are presented from permeameter tests involving unidirectional seepage flow through reconstituted specimens of four widely graded cohesionless soils. The onset of instability is defined by a significant decrease in local hydraulic gradient over a relatively short period of time. The novel concept of a hydromechanical path in stress ([Formula: see text]) – gradient (ijk) space is proposed, which describes the response to seepage flow during testing and terminates at the value of critical hydraulic gradient. The path terminus establishes a hydromechanical boundary governing the onset of seepage-induced internal instability in one-dimensional flow. The boundary represents a failure envelope, which is different for each of the four soils tested. A ranking of seepage-induced instability for each soil, from most unstable to least unstable, is found similar, but not identical to, the susceptibility to internal instability determined from empirical analysis of the gradation shape.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 316-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmira Khaksar Najafi ◽  
Hadi Faghihmaleki

Land subsidence is defined as gradually ground surface settlement in an aquifer due to the compaction of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits. Since in an aquifer, deposits consist of cohesive or non-cohesive alluvial soil layers. The consolidation theory cannot be explained as the only reason for land subsidence. According to the susceptibility of alluvial soils to suffusion, internal erosion is also considerable to enhance the rate of the local settlement. Suffusion is explained as a process of soil particle movement in the soil body due to the effect of seepage flow on it. The subsidence rate in southwest and south of Tehran in Iran is very considerable whereby some structures have suffered significant damages due to this phenomenon. In this research, the contribution of suffusion and land subsidence was investigated in damaged building located at Ghale Morghi Street in southwest of Tehran, as a case history. Because of the incapability of available methods, in this article, a probability pattern is also proposed using statistical analysis for determination the likelihood of internal instability in alluvial soils in regard to soil cohesiveness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Ahmed Jalil ◽  
Ahmed Benamar ◽  
Mohamed Ebn Touhami

Laboratory tests on internal erosion of cohesionless soils are often performed on cells submitted to a controlled seepage. The cell dimension depends on the grain size of tested soil and must meet the geometric and hydraulic scale requirements as regards to the modeled process. Three specimens collected from different zoned dams in Morocco were characterized for their geotechnical properties and dispersion sensitivity, and then submitted in two different cells to internal erosion (Hole Erosion Test) under controlled seepage. The erosion kinetics was measured, and soil classification was assessed as regards to the useful engineering guidelines. The results showed that specimen dimensions can affect the erosion parameters which are quite different from a cell to another. Even though the derived erosion coefficient values are different from the two testing cells, the classification of the three soils regarding the susceptibility to erosion, using engineering guidelines, indicated that the tested soils fall overall in neighboring erosion classifications. However, the soil involving the lower clay content provided the greatest resistance against internal erosion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Liang ◽  
Hongjie Zhang ◽  
Xixi Shi ◽  
Chen Ma ◽  
Bin Zhang ◽  
...  

The instability of a filter system is a significant cause of seepage failure in embankment projects. The filter system in the earth-rock embankment is mainly composed of graded cohesionless soil. To uncover the performance of the granular filter in resisting the internal erosion, a set of experiments was carried out with an improved experimental apparatus, considering different hydraulic loading scenarios. The movement of graded cohesionless soil, the seepage velocity and the hydraulic gradient were monitored in the experiments. It was found that during the process of increasing the hydraulic gradient, the failure of the granular filter mainly experienced three stages: the first one was the dynamic equilibrium stage; the second was the critical start stage; and the third was the failure stage, in which a sudden change in the seepage velocity was the precursor of seepage failure. The critical hydraulic gradient and destructive hydraulic gradient decreased with the water level amplitude. Moreover, the experiments revealed that the loading modes of the hydraulic gradient significantly influenced the anti-erosion capacity of the granular filter. Compared with the stepwise loading mode, the cyclic reciprocating loading mode greatly weakened the anti-erosion capacity of the granular filter under the same water level amplitude. The destructive hydraulic gradient of the latter was only 71.8 % of the former under a higher water level amplitude, indicating that the corresponding measures should be considered to avoid the occurrence of a periodically variable hydraulic gradient.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Jun Lee ◽  
In-Hyun Kim ◽  
Choong-Ki Chung

AbstractSuffusion is the phenomenon responsible for internal erosion, and is the process by which finer soil particles are moved through the constrictions between the larger soil particles by seepage forces. Generally, gap-graded soil is known to be susceptible to suffusion. Meanwhile, suffusion of well-graded silty sand and the resulting soil behavior are not well understood. Moreover, the previous researches on laboratory suffusion tests focused on the study of the critical hydraulic gradient, which triggers the internal instability of the soils within a short period of time. Therefore, in this study, long-term suffusion tests were conducted on well-graded silty sand under a hydraulic gradient lower than the critical value. As a result, abrupt increases in permeability and amount of soil discharged were observed due to the progressive migration of the soil particles, resulting in suffusion even at a relatively low hydraulic gradient.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
R. Frank ◽  
H. Zervogiannis ◽  
S. Christoulas ◽  
V. Papadopoulos ◽  
N. Kalteziotis

This paper describes the behaviour of two test piles (one bored and postgrouted and one simply bored, both 31.7 m long and 0.75 m in diameter) subjected to horizontal loads. These full-scale pile tests were carried out for the actual design of the pile foundation of a pier of the Evripos cable-stayed bridge. This bridge will link the Euboea Island to mainland Greece. The two piles have already been subjected to bearing capacity tests under axial loadings. The inclinometer measurements, taken during the present tests, yielded, in particular, the deformed shape of the piles as well as the bending moments. Conclusions could be drawn for the final design of the pile foundation with respect to horizontal loadings. Furthermore, various calculation methods using p–y reaction curves for cohesionless soils have been checked: the Ménard pressuremeter method, the method of the American Petroleum Institute recommendations, and the Standard penetration test method of Christoulas. These pile tests show that simple measurements, taken on construction sites, can yield interesting results on the actual behaviour of horizontally loaded piles. Key words : pile, horizontal loading, full-scale test, horizontal loads, bending moment, subgrade reaction modulus, p–y curve, cohesionless soil, Standard penetration test, pressuremeter test.


2010 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 85-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman Manandhar ◽  
Noriyuki Yasufuku ◽  
Kiyoshi Omine ◽  
Taizo Kobayashi

This paper describes model tests of different types of tapered piles in cohesionless soils. Chromium plated three steel piles, one straight and two taper-shaped piles of same length and pile tip diameters have been executed for pile loading test in a downward frictional mode. Two different types of model grounds have been prepared for the test. Relative densities of 80 % and 60 % have been modeled to penetrate piles in two different types of sands to observe the effectiveness of skin frictions of different types of piles. The response of tapered piles has shown that the skin friction has increased with increasing the tapering angle at normalized settlement ratio of 0.4. High density ground yields higher skin friction when the maximum tapered pile was penetrated. Slightly increased tapering angle of the pile affects remarkably on the skin friction with compared to conventional straight cylindrical pile even at small 0.1 settlement ratios.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 3014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Kurnyta ◽  
Wojciech Zielinski ◽  
Piotr Reymer ◽  
Krzysztof Dragan ◽  
Michal Dziendzikowski

This paper presents the preparation and execution of on-ground static and engine load tests for the composite unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The test was conducted for pre-flight structural strength verification of the remotely piloted aerial target named HORNET, after introducing some structural modifications. The ground tests were performed before the flight test campaign, to ensure the strength and operational safety of the modified structure. The panel method and Computer Aided Design (CAD) modelling were adopted for numerical evaluation of aerodynamic and inertial forces’ distribution to simulate loading scenarios for launch, flight and parachute deploying conditions during the static test. Then, the multi-stage airframe static test was prepared and executed with the use of a designed modular test rig, artificial masses, as well as a wireless strain measurement system to perform structure verification. The UAV was investigated with 150% of the typical load spectrum. Furthermore, an engine test was also conducted on a ground test stand to verify strain and vibration levels in correspondence to engine speed, as well as the reliability of data link and the lack of its interferences with wireless control and telemetry. In the article, data achieved from the numerical and experimental parts of the test are discussed, as well as post-test remarks are given.


Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 664 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Zumr ◽  
Václav David ◽  
Josef Krása ◽  
Jiří Nedvěd

Small earth dams usually lack the detailed seepage monitoring system that would provide high resolution data on changes in seepage flow. Alternative solution is monitoring of the temperature and electrical resistivity in the body of the dams. Geophysical methods are useful techniques for a non-destructive exploration of the subsurface. We have utilized the combination of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), ground penetrating radar (GPR) and multi-depth electromagnetical conductivity meter (CMD) techniques to observe the inner structure, especially internal failures, of the historical earth-filled dams. Longitudinal and transversal profiles of four typical fishpond dams in the Czech Republic were measured within this research. The dams were constructed as early as in the 15th century, some of them went through minor reconstruction. The aim of the application of geophysical methods for investigation of old fishpond dams was to detect and localize the boundary of the dam foundation, new earth material from the reconstruction works, cone of water depression, technical objects location, potential internal erosion, cavities, inhomogeneity in the water content pattern and any other anomalies. The primary results show that the ERT is suitable to observe the dam stratification, dam foundation, bedrock below the dam and large anomalies. GPR is suitable for small objects and anomalies detection in the shallow depths.


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