Probabilistic stability evaluation for wildlife-damaged earth dams: a Bayesian approach

Dassanayake, S.M.; Mousa, Ahmad

doi:10.1080/17499518.2018.1542499

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This paper focuses on the effect of small and medium-sized cavities, such as those burrowed by mammals, on the stability of the landside slope of levees. Recent studies investigated this issue numerically [5][6][7][8][9][10], conducting seepage analyses eventually coupled with the limit equilibrium method (LEM) to evaluate the factor of safety (FS) of the slope.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LEM stability analyses assume circular failure surfaces crossing the levee and the foundation subsoil and calculate FS with the previously calculated pore pressure distribution and considering the structural weakness due to the cavity [5,7,9,10]. The decrease in FS in the damaged levee is considered a proof of concept of the risk associated with the presence of cavities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The decrease in FS in the damaged levee is considered a proof of concept of the risk associated with the presence of cavities. However, for real cases, FS lower than one is obtained only with conservative assumptions [5,7]. If the burrow system connects the waterside and the landside, the water flowing through the pipe can start concentrated erosion [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Animal Burrows on the Vulnerability of Levees to Concentrated Erosion

Ceccato

Malvestio

Simonini

2022

Water

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Earth dams and levees often offer an attractive habitat for burrowing animals such as porcupines, nutria, badgers, etc. However, their activity may damage the earth structure, potentially leading to catastrophic failures. If the burrow system connects the waterside and the landside, water flows through the pipe and it can start concentrated erosion. This paper shows that the conditions to trigger concentrated erosion can be generated by a local instability mechanism of the landside slope in which the soil cover between the cavity and the surface is expulsed due to increasing water pressure. A simplified model based on the limit equilibrium method is proposed and compared with bi-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element analyses. This mechanism can better explain real failure cases. The results provide useful suggestions for the assessment of levee vulnerability to animal burrows and for the management of water retaining structures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Animal Burrows on the Vulnerability of Levees to Concentrated Erosion

Ceccato

Malvestio

Simonini

2022

Water

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“…The awareness of researchers toward the issues that mammal dens in levees pose to flood prone communities is demonstrated by the rapidly growing number of papers dedicated to this topic (Calamak et al., 2020; Dassanayake & Mousa, 2020; Li et al., 2020; Palladino et al., 2020). In spite of the problem relevance, burrowing of earthen structures was previously discussed only by a limited number of publications such as failure reports, maintenance recommendations and restoration guidelines of authorities involved in flood control or newspaper articles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure Probability Analysis of Levees Affected by Mammal Bioerosion

Balistrocchi

Moretti

Ranzi

et al. 2021

Water Resources Research

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“…Internal erosion comprises four mechanisms: concentrated leak, backward erosion, contact erosion, and suffusion ( 17 ). A concentrated leak characterizes a “pipe-like” eroding channel that forms in earth structures in pre-existing cracks (or hydraulic fractures), construction defects, or the biological intrusions, such as animal burrows ( 18 , 19 ). In backward erosion cases, high exit gradients remove fine to medium grained soil particles (i.e., silt and sand) from the downstream surface of the earth dam creating an opening, which is also defined as piping, allowing a channel propagation to the upstream side ( 9 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Internal Instability in Soils: A Critical Review of the Fundamentals and Ramifications

Dassanayake

Mousa

Ilankoon

et al. 2021

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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Seepage-induced fine-particle migration that leads to a change in the conductivity of a soil matrix is referred to as internal instability. This could jeopardize the structural integrity of the soil matrix by initiating suffusion (or suffosion), a form of internal erosion. Susceptibility to suffusion has been studied mostly under extreme laboratory conditions to develop empirical design criteria, which are typically based on the particle size distribution. The physics governing the process have not been comprehensively uncovered in the classical studies because of experimental limitations. Mainstream evaluation methods often over-idealize the suffusion process, holding a probabilistic perspective for estimating constriction sizes and fines migration. Prospective studies on constitutive modeling techniques and modern computational techniques have allowed a more representative evaluation and deeper insight into the problem. Recent advances in sensing technologies, visualization, and tracking techniques have equally enriched the quality of the data on suffusion. This paper sets out to present the long-standing knowledge on the internal instability phenomenon in soils. An attempt is made to pinpoint ambiguities and underscore research gaps. The classical empirical studies and modern visualizing techniques are integrated with particle-based numerical simulations to strengthen the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon.

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Probabilistic stability evaluation for wildlife-damaged earth dams: a Bayesian approach

Cited by 12 publications

References 18 publications

Effect of Animal Burrows on the Vulnerability of Levees to Concentrated Erosion

Effect of Animal Burrows on the Vulnerability of Levees to Concentrated Erosion

Failure Probability Analysis of Levees Affected by Mammal Bioerosion

Internal Instability in Soils: A Critical Review of the Fundamentals and Ramifications

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