Horizontal seepage failure model and experimental study of damaged sidewalls of seams between geotube dam tubes

Abstract

The impact of damaged sidewalls at the joints between tubes on dam structures subjected to horizontal seepage is investigated. First, an experimental scheme is designed to test the mode and critical gradient of seepage failure of the soil in the damaged tubes. The effects of various overburden pressures (0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 kPa), hole radii(0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2 cm) and soil specimen properties were studied. The test phenomena and the changes in the pore water pressure were used to determine the seepage failure modes and the critical gradients under different conditions. Combined with the modified Terzaghi soil arching theory, a mathematical model was developed for the critical gradient for soil seepage failure. The model fitting curve was in good agreement with the laboratory test results. The critical gradient is independent of the overburden pressure and weakly dependent on the internal friction angle of the soil. The critical gradient increases with the cohesion. For fixed characteristic soil parameters, the critical gradient decreases at a gradually decreasing rate as the radius of the damaged hole increases.

Advanced monitoring and numerical modelling of the stability, safety and reliability indicators of the earthen dam of Songloulou (Cameroon)

“…The modelling provides other useful information such as the vertical stresses prevailing at any point in the model. The results of the statistical study and Finite Element Modelling are in agreement with those of recent research throughout the world [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] for the analysis of the same phenomena. The lack data from altimetric measurements does not make it possible to have settlments or swelling on the top of the dam according to the seasons.…”

“…The methodology consist to analyse this quantity of data collected on the site at regular times intervals for more than a decade using artificial intelligence model. Several research works have been carried out around the world using artificial intelligence to guarantee the reliability and safety of dams [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. On the intake dam, 30 piezometers are usable out of the 31 installed.…”

“…For the study of cases of earth dams in operation the method exposed in this paper is commonly used [ 27 , 28 ]. These principles were recently published in American Journal of Construction and Building material [ 29 ].…”

“…Indeed, the neural network method allow to model nonlinearities based on the use of the properties of time series [26]. These nonlinearities are closely linked to the evolution of geotechnical parameters, environmental parameters, as well as structural parameters of the dam [27][28][29].…”