A method to assess the suffusion susceptibility of low permeability core soils in compacted dams based on construction data

Abstract

A method to assess the suffusion susceptibility of core soils in compacted dams based on construction dataSuffusion, as one of the main internal erosion processes in earth structures and their foundations, may increase their failure risks. The paper aims at presenting a general method to assess the suffusion susceptibility of core soil samples belonging to zoned hydraulic embankment dams. On one hand, the suffusion susceptibility of the soil samples is evaluated by an erosion resistance index. Thanks to existing statistical analyses, the erosion resistance index is estimated from several soil parameters that can be easily measured in-situ or in laboratory during the construction of a dam. On the other hand, the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil samples is evaluated based on the amount of fines content and on available construction data. Moreover, the power dissipated by the flow is inferred based on the saturated hydraulic conductivity and simplified fluid boundary conditions. The combined consideration of the erosion resistant index and of the power dissipated by the flow permits to identify zones characterized with a relatively larger suffusion potential (lower erosion resistance index and larger power than their respective average). Throughout, the method is applied to a particular zoned dam with a till core, from Northern Quebec, as a proof of concept.

Modeling and Risk Analysis of Dam-Break Flooding in a Semi-Arid Montane Watershed: A Case Study of the Yabous Dam, Northeastern Algeria

“…This will systematically give a large breach shape [89]. The fourth is the amount of compaction applied on the layers of the dike material during its construction [90]. The fifth, the thickness of the layer of the material used for the realization of the dike and, in particular, the clay material; the lower the thickness of the layer, the more the dike body can resist the flood spill on the dam crest [91].…”

Modeling and Risk Analysis of Dam-Break Flooding in a Semi‐Arid Montane Watershed.

“…This will systematically give a large breach shape [61]. The fourth (4) is the number of compaction applied on the layers of the dike material during its construction [62]. The fifth (5), the thickness of the layer of the material used for the realization of the dike and in particular the clay material, the lower the thickness of the layer, the more the dike body can resist against the flood spill on the dam crest [63].…”

“…The fifth (5), the thickness of the layer of the material used for the realization of the dike and in particular the clay material, the lower the thickness of the layer, the more the dike body can resist against the flood spill on the dam crest [63]. The sixth (6), the number of the layers watering the dam material (water content) especially the core material (clay) [62,64]. And the seventh (7) is the protection of upstream and downstream embankments [65].…”

Analysis of volumetric internal erosion in cohesionless soils: Model, experiments and simulations

“…Hence when modelling suffusion in such structures, the main challenge is to achieve a good representation of the physical process involved. Our long term objective is to validate the ability of our numerical model to represent the suffusive behaviour of real scale earth structures 46 . As an intermediate step, our current objective is to reproduce numerically an experiment realized on a physical model of dike 31 by using the poro‐elastic model extended to suffusion developed in Section 2 and both relationships previously studied.…”