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Experimental factors affecting the suffusion susceptibility of a glacial till soil
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Mining and Geotechnical Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5719-3056
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Mining and Geotechnical Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8739-2219
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Mining and Geotechnical Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1935-1743
(English)In: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ISSN 1090-0241, E-ISSN 1943-5606Article in journal (Refereed) Submitted
Abstract [en]

Suffusion in embankment dams is a common safety issue which initiation and characterization keep being unknown despite the large amount of data acquired in experimental tests. This contribution evaluates to what extent the variability of experimental conditions such as: type of soil, stress conditions, hydraulic loading and experimental scale limits the susceptibility to suffusion of a glacial fine-grained till typically used in embankment dams. The testing program included: four different relative density, three type of filters defined based on the filter retention criteria available in literature, two different sized permeameters and three multistage hydraulic loadings with downward seepage flow. Results show that, even under severe hydraulic load and poorly compacted conditions, the tested till proved to be internally stable, as predicted by empirical methods defined based on the soil self - filtering capability. Nonetheless, very minor erosion might occur with high rate of increment of hydraulic gradient and inappropriate filter, which lead to the conclusion that the interpretation of results is affected by the boundaries conditions of the experimental device.

Keywords [en]
dams, glacial till, cohesionless soils, suffusion, hydraulic gradient, hydraulic conductivity, internal erosion, experimental
National Category
Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-87320OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-87320DiVA, id: diva2:1599929
Available from: 2021-10-03 Created: 2021-10-03 Last updated: 2025-02-07
In thesis
1. Investigation of Suffusion in Glacial Till Dam Cores: Testing methods and critical hydraulic gradients
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Investigation of Suffusion in Glacial Till Dam Cores: Testing methods and critical hydraulic gradients
2021 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Suffusion is an internal erosion mechanism that occurs in embankment dams when fine grained particles in the dam core are washed out by seepage. Initiation of internal erosion depends mainly on three major factors: grain size distribution of the soil, stress conditions and hydraulic gradient; whilst its continuation depends on the properties of the filter. Broadly graded moraines, as glacial tills, are more susceptible to internal erosion by suffusion than other types of soils used in dams. Most embankment dams in Sweden consist of a central core of glacial till built more than 50 years ago. At the time of its construction, the available guidelines did not include specific grain size boundaries for the core and the filter related to internal erosion susceptibility. Today, several Swedish embankment dams have experienced incidents of internal erosion such as leakages and sinkholes, making internal erosion an important safety issue. This circumstance leaded to the question: what are the conditions triggering internal erosion by suffusion in embankment dams? This research aims to contribute to the assessment of dam safety by increasing the knowledge on glacial till soils regarding: i) the optimum empirical method to evaluate the susceptibility to suffusion; ii) the effects of boundary and testing conditions in the experimental evaluation of suffusion, and iii) summarize reference values of the hydraulic gradient triggering the initiation of suffusion. The thesis includes a literature review on the existing methods to evaluate soil’s susceptibility to suffusion, a comparison among the difference testing and boundary conditions applied in the experimental assessment of soil’s susceptibility to suffusion, and an experimental study aiming to determine the critical hydraulic gradient for suffusion to initiate in glacial till soils (ic). The experimental study includes three glacial till soils with particle size distributions representing different initial conditions in the core material, e.g.: internally stable, internally unstable and critically internally unstable. The boundary conditions considered in the test program are: initial void ratio, type of filter and specimen size. Test were performed with three different ratio of increase of hydraulic gradient and three different time interval to increase the hydraulic gradient. Results show that the Rönnqvist (2015) adaptation of the Kenney and Lau (1985, 1986) method modified by Li and Fannin (2008) is an accurate empirical method to evaluate the susceptibility of glacial till soils to suffusion. It was also concluded that the critical hydraulic gradient triggering suffusion is not a unique value but depends on the testing conditions, such as axial loading, rate of increase of hydraulic gradient (Δi) and time interval to increase hydraulic gradient (Δt). The higher the axial load the higher the critical hydraulic gradient needed to initiate suffusion. High ratio of increase of hydraulic gradient applied with short time interval can lead to ic - values higher than the obtained in tests with low Δi and long Δt. Tests should be performed with low rate of increase of hydraulic gradient and each hydraulic gradient should last long enough for the specimen to adapt/respond to the new hydraulic conditions. Nevertheless, a general observation is that the critical hydraulic gradient of internally unstable soils tends to be lower than 5 when tested without axial load.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå: Luleå University of Technology, 2021. p. 80
Series
Doctoral thesis / Luleå University of Technology 1 jan 1997 → …, ISSN 1402-1544
Keywords
internal erosion, suffusion, glacial till, dam cores, dams, experimental investigation, hydraulic gradient, testing methods, cohesionless soils, granular soils
National Category
Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
Research subject
Soil Mechanics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-87737 (URN)978-91-7790-975-0 (ISBN)978-91-7790-976-7 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-01-14, T2109, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, 14:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2021-11-04 Created: 2021-11-03 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved

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Silva, IngridViklander, PeterLaue, Jan

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