A critical review on granular dam filter behaviour – from particle sizes to constriction-based design criteria

Over emphasis on tests results involving base soils with increasing coefficient of uniformity (C_u ) makes the reliability of an empirical particle-based criterion for effective filters questionable. Extra measures such as regrading of base soil are then necessary in order to capture the effectiveness of filter constriction sizes in trapping eroding fines. Recent studies which focused on the role of the sizes of filter voids on overall filtration behaviour have deployed constriction size approaches that were shown to be equally acceptable methods for distinguishing between effective and ineffective filters. This paper examines the evolution of this approach, starting from past empirical and mathematical investigations and proceeding to the eventual development of geometric-probabilistic methods with special reference to embankment dams. Models based on dominant and controlling constriction sizes are introduced, and subsequently the constriction-based retention criteria for granular filters are presented. The proposed retention criteria were verified based on extensive experimental data taken from small- and large-scale filtration tests carried out by various authors. The integration of filter compaction, porosity and C_u , together with the incorporation of analytical principles, provides alternative and rigorous design approaches that remove most limitations of the conventional particle-based criteria, thus making the models essentially more comprehensive and quantifiable.     

Discrete numerical modeling of particle transport in granular filters

Granular filters are an essential component in earth dams to protect the dam core from seepage erosion. This paper uses the particle flow method (PFM) to study the mechanism of particle transport in a base soil–filter system. The distributions of the eroded base-soil particles in different filters are traced and analyzed. The eroded mass and intruding depth of the eroded particles into the filters are obtained under different times and hydraulic gradients. The simulation results show that the eroded mass and intruding depth of the base-soil particles into the filter are related to the representative particle size ratio of the base soil to the filter, hydraulic gradient and erosion time. The numerical predictions are also compared with the empirical filter design criterion. The results show that the particle flow model provides an effective approach for studying the filtration micro-property and the erosion mechanism in a base soil–filter system, which is useful for filter design.     

Evaluation of Combined Base Soil Erodibility and Granular Filter Efficiency

Filters managed in zoned dams are designed according to criteria based on the grain size distribution of both filter and eroded soil. However, the constriction size distribution of the filter is the key parameter which governs the filter retention process of flowing eroded particles. To assess the filter efficiency regarding eroded particles, several filters and base soils are tested in a vertical cell with a configuration coupling erosion and filtration processes. For setting the boundary condition of eroded particles at the filter inlet, hole erosion test (HET) was performed on the base soil. The investigation of the evolution of filter behavior shows that the void ratio and the grain shape are of a great influence on filter efficiency. A new approach of filter clogging was proposed by evaluating a damage index which is affected by various parameters such as the ratio D₁₅/d₈₅ and the size of eroded particles. An approach linking the geometrical parameters (damage index) to the hydraulic conductivity leads to an estimation of the filter performance which provides a more quantifiable and realistic criterion. The results indicate that even existing criteria were not met; the tested filters remain efficient as regards to experimental data. An analytical approach based on constrictions size distribution was used and pore reduction was matched with experimental results.

     

On the use of pore pressure measurements in safety reassessments of concrete dams founded on rock

In probabilistic stability analyses of concrete dams founded on rock, the uplift pressure is often a parameter of major importance. In previous literature, it has been suggested that assessing uplift with pore pressure measurements, instead of using empirical assumptions, could improve the calculated dam safety. This paper presents a coherent methodology to investigate whether incorporating pore pressure measurements has any impact on the calculated dam safety, based on Bayesian linear regression of pore pressure data in combination with series-system and the first-order reliability method. The study concludes that the probability of sliding failure is closely related to the probability of an extreme increase in uplift. Hence, measured uplift should only be incorporated while this probability remains sufficiently small, which requires proper programs both for uplift monitoring and for maintenance of drains and grout curtains.     

打入桩承载力确定方法对安全系数的影响

在传统的容许应力设计方法中桩基承载力安全系数取决于桩基承载力的确定方法,然而,基于经验选择的承载力安全系数缺少理论依据,为此,基于贝叶斯理论和线性回归方法提出了评价桩基承载力确定方法对承载力安全系数影响的方法,给出了现行规范对于不同承载力确定方法采用不同安全系数的理论依据,阐明了桩基动力测试降低安全系数的理论依据,并以7种桩基设计方法为例,分析了承载力确定方法对安全系数的影响。结果表明,采用所提出的方法计算的安全系数基本上与现行的经验值相一致,表明精确的承载力确定方法可以有效地降低承载力安全系数,设计方法、承载力确定方法和水平都对安全系数有影响,但当承载力试验桩的数目足够多时,安全系数对于设计方法的精确性不敏感。     

Reliability analysis of soil liquefaction based on standard penetration test

A review of probabilistic and deterministic liquefaction evaluation procedures reveals that there is a need for a comprehensive approach that accounts for different sources of uncertainty in liquefaction evaluations. For the same set of input parameters, different models provide different factors of safety and/or probabilities of liquefaction. To account for the different uncertainties, including both the model and measurement uncertainties, reliability analysis is necessary. This paper presents a review and comparative study of such reliability approaches that can be used to obtain the probability of liquefaction and the corresponding factor of safety. Using a simplified deterministic Seed method, this reliability analysis has been performed. The probability of liquefaction along with the corresponding factor of safety have been determined based on a first order second moment (FOSM) method, an advanced FOSM (Hasofer–Lind) reliability method, a point estimation method (PEM) and a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. A combined method that uses both FOSM and PEM is presented and found to be simple and reliable for liquefaction analysis. Based on the FOSM reliability approach, the minimum safety factor value to be adopted for soil liquefaction analysis (depending on the variability of soil resistance, shear stress parameters and acceptable risk) has been studied and a new design safety factor based on a reliability approach is proposed.     

Sources of uncertainty in liquefaction triggering procedures

Uncertainties in observed data and in processing field and laboratory tests are major concerns. Assigning reasonable coefficients of variation to the parameters in the conventional analyses indicates that a site with deterministic factors of safety of 1.5 can actually have liquefaction triggering probability above 20%. About a third of the variance comes from uncertainty in the load, which is independent of the resistance. Researchers have traditionally presented the results of case studies in the form of charts showing instances in which liquefaction did and did not occur and have developed relations to separate the two. Although the original researchers developed the separations informally, recent work has applied statistical methods. These give the sampling distributions of the observed data rather than the probability of triggering given the data. Researchers have addressed this issue using Bayesian methods, adopting non-informative priors. Published curves of liquefaction probabilities can be interpreted as likelihood ratios. Other independent work demonstrates that geological, meteorological, and historical data can be used to develop prior probabilities, so it may not be necessary to assume a non-informative prior. The actual prior can then be combined with the likelihood ratios to provide rational probabilities of liquefaction. We recommend that researchers publish their likelihood ratios and allow engineers faced with particular sites to use those to update their own priors.     

Numerical modelling of fluid-induced soil erosion in granular filters using a coupled bonded particle lattice Boltzmann method

This paper presents a three-dimensional coupled bonded particle and lattice Boltzmann method (BPLBM) with an immersed moving boundary scheme for the fluid-solid interaction. It is then applied to investigate the erosion process of soil particles in granular filters placed within earth dams. The microscopic migration of soil particles can be clearly visualised as the movement of particles can be directly recorded. Three granular filters with different representative size ratios are simulated and the numerical results are seen to match the empirical criteria. In addition, the effect of the representative size ratio of granular filters, hydraulic loading and erosion time are discussed.     

Reliability assessment of excavation systems considering both stability and serviceability performance

Excavation projects related to urban redevelopment and infrastructure improvement are often governed by serviceability-based design, rather than failure prevention criteria. Deformation tolerance specifications are often prescribed based on minimizing potential damage to adjacent structures. A risk-based approach to serviceability performance that systematically incorporates design parameter uncertainty will allow engineers to address soil uncertainty in performance-based design. This paper demonstrates the use of various kinds of reliability methods, such as response surface method (RSM), first-order reliability method (FORM), second-order reliability method (SORM), adaptive importance sampling (AIS), Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and system reliability, to assess the risk of stability and/or serviceability failure of an entire excavation support system throughout the entire construction process. By considering multiple failure modes (including serviceability criteria) of an excavation, the component and system reliability indices for each excavation step are assessed during the entire excavation process. Sensitivity analyses are conducted for the system reliability calculations, which demonstrate that the adjacent structure damage potential limit state function is the dominant factor for determining excavation system reliability. An example is presented to show how the serviceability performance for braced excavation problems can be assessed based on the system reliability index.     

A reliability based approach for evaluating the slope stability of embankment dams

Embankment dams are important and costly civil engineering structures that provide an essential infrastructure for the management of water. One of the critical aspects of dam design is the analysis of stability and safety of the earth structure under various operating and environmental conditions. Traditionally, a deterministic approach is used for such analysis. However, the determination of variables such as soil strength parameters, pore pressure and other pertinent properties involves uncertainties, which cannot be handled in the traditional deterministic methods. It is, therefore, highly desirable to develop a reliability based analytical/numerical methodology for stability analysis of dams taking into account these uncertainties. Reliability and probability theories are developed in this paper for assessing the reliability index and the corresponding probability of failure of multi-layered embankment dams and slopes. Two definitions were used to calculate the reliability index (i.e. the normal distribution and the log–normal distribution). The computer program was developed and validated by the Congress Street open cut failure case. The developed approach was used to study the stability of the King Talal embankment dam. The results are discussed and conclusions drawn.     

Investigation of Effective Parameters on the Embankment Dam Filter Behavior in Simultaneous Cracking in the Core and Filter

Cracks in filter can develop as a result of earthquake deformations or post-construction settlement and in some cases cracks extended through both the core and filter. Hence, a test apparatus has been developed to investigate filter performance in the case of filter and core material cracking in the embankment dams. The apparatus allows testing of incomplete cylindrical test specimens of 10 cm diameter and height of 20 cm. If the filters work well and successfully, crack filling occur, also the flow rate decrease, and the head water pressure increase to the range of early pressure. In the failed filters case, the flow rate do not decrease and remain high, also a very low head water pressure take place. In this research, variations of pressure, fines contents of filter soils, compaction time, PI of the base material and amount of eroded materials was evaluated. Results showed that prime flow rate increased as hydraulic gradient increased, but decreased in a little time and reach to a stable value. Filter with 15% of non-plastic fine content, had ability to slump to fill the crack, but its coefficient of permeability decreased significantly, hence, cannot be used as a filter in embankment dams.     

Micromechanical assessment of an internal stability criterion

The internal stability of a soil is a measure of its susceptibility to suffusion and suffosion, two forms of internal erosion. The internal stability of granular filters must be carefully considered when designing new embankment dams and assessing the risk associated with existing embankment dams. Current guidelines for assessing the internal stability of such filters were empirically derived from macroscale observations and consider the shape of the particle-size distribution curve. These guidelines lack a fundamental, scientific micromechanical basis. The initiation and propagation of internal erosion is clearly a particle-scale phenomenon, and this paper applies particulate mechanics to provide a micromechanical justification for one currently used stability criterion. The study used discrete element simulations of idealised virtual soil samples that had various degrees of internal stability when assessed using the criterion proposed by Kézdi [10]. The internal topologies of stable and unstable samples were analysed by considering the distributions of inter-particle contact forces, the number of particle–particle contacts and the average particle stresses. Clear correlations are observed between the filter stability criterion and the average number of contacts per particle and the probability that a given particle participates in stress transmission. The phenomenon of a critical fines content, at which the existing guidelines are no longer considered to be valid, is also considered.     

A quantitative appraisal of earthquake hazard parameters computed from Gumbel I method for different regions in and around Turkey

Useful information concerning the earthquake hazard parameters distributed in Turkey and the adjacent areas are estimated in the present work. Based on Gumbel’s I distribution parameters we are able to estimate the hazard values of the investigated area which are the mean return periods, the most probable maximum magnitude in the time period of t-years and the probability for an earthquake occurrence of magnitude ≥M during a time span of t-years. Figures concerning the spatial distribution of probabilities and the return periods are plotted and we considered them of particular interest for mapping the earthquake hazard in Turkey and the surrounding areas. These figures effectively produce a brief earthquake hazard atlas. The quantitative appraisal of the hazard parameters is useful for engineers, planners, etc., because it provides a tool for earthquake resistant design.     

A network model to assess base-filter combinations

Granular filters retain base material within the narrowest constrictions of their void network. A direct comparison of the base material particle size distribution (PSD) and the filter constriction size distribution (CSD) cannot easily be used to assess filter-base compatibility. Here a conceptually simple random-walk network model using a filter CSD derived from discrete element modelling and base PSD is used to assess filter-base compatibility. Following verification using experimental data the model is applied to assess empirical ratios between filter and base characteristic diameters. The effects of filter density, void connectivity and blocking in the first few filter layers are highlighted.     

无纺土工织物保土应用中的概率设计准则

保土准则是土工织物反滤准则的重要组成部分,但目前的设计准则保土有余,透水不足。介绍了无纺土工织物的两种孔洞分布曲线,计算了土颗粒透过织物的概率。在理论分析的基础上,提出了一种概率保土准则。该准则对土体中的骨架颗粒和小颗粒透过织物的概率分别加以限制,既能保持土体稳定,又能防止淤堵。     

考虑能量-时间分布的边坡动力可靠性分析新方法

提出一种考虑能量-时间分布的边坡动力可靠性分析方法。该方法将动态最危险滑动面及其稳定系数以时间序列加以刻画,并根据边坡动力反应的能量分布特征,提取持续时间统计窗,用于对上述时间序列的统计分析,以获取边坡动力模糊失效概率、边坡动力可靠度指标和基于保证率的边坡动力稳定系数。以澳大利亚计算机应用协会边坡稳定考核题为例,应用上述新方法考察其在芦山7.0级主震波形条件下的稳定性,研究了在不同统计窗下的边坡动力可靠性。案例分析表明： （1）新方法能够抓住影响边坡动力稳定的主要时间段,使分析结果更为凝练、可信。（2）通过引入边坡失效状态的模糊判别,使得可靠性评价中能够考虑模糊性,解决了以往常规方法区分度不够的问题。（3）基于保证率的边坡动力稳定系数具有很好的应用前景,它在内涵上体现了可靠性分析,在形式上与静力稳定系数的定义兼容,在数值上反映了边坡瞬时动力稳定系数的保守估计值,在实践上与现行规范的拟静力法具有良好的可比性,因而具有多方面的优势。（4）就本案例而言,动力条件下最危险滑动面的发育位置趋向于静力条件下的最危险滑动面,体现了依据静力和拟静力理论框架所进行的防护工程设计,在动力条件下仍然具有积极的意义。（5）新方法对定量研究现行边坡规范的抗震设计冗余提供了一条途径。提出的新方法为边坡抗震研究提供了新的思路、方法和可供参考的实例。     

A Critical Review on Filter Design Criteria for Dispersive Base Soils

Dispersive soils have become common materials for the construction industry. Highly susceptible to internal erosion and piping, dispersive soils must only be used with specific engineering measure in order to avoid failures that were often catastrophic. In an earth dam, clayey soils are used for the core and sandy materials are used for the filter to retain the eroded core soils and prevent their migration. In the absence of first-rate core material, dispersive soils have been used instead. This paper provides a review of the current knowledge and experiences regarding filtration of core soils, particularly the dispersive ones. The engineering problems associated with the use of dispersive soils are discussed and significant findings from previous studies on protective filters are summarized. It is worthy to note that the current review considers both, the conventional, rather empirical filter design criteria based on particle sizes and the current, quite theoretical state-of-the-art filter design criteria based on constriction sizes, with discussion given on the advantages and disadvantages of both. The information provided by this review should be handy for the study, design, construction, and operation of related geotechnical and geo-environmental projects.     

Probabilistic analysis of borehole closure for through-salt well design

Probability levels, in the form of marginal cumulative distribution functions, are determined for the time it takes salt to contact a casing, which penetrates a salt canopy, and the time it takes the casing to yield once salt has contacted the casing, in support of through-salt well design activities required for deep-water, sub-salt environments. The finite-element method coupled with an advanced reliability method is used to perform the analyses. Randomness caused by uncertainties in salt properties, lithostatic stress, drilling-mud pressure, production temperature, and borehole ellipticity is handled by including statistics and probability distributions for each of these random variables. The advanced reliability method takes full account of the random variables and processes without Monte Carlo simulation, by using a method for assessing reliability statistics that computes response probabilities in a direct and efficient manner. This advanced reliability method falls under the general category of fast probability integration schemes.     

基于Hoek-Brown经验公式的岩体稳定性可靠度分析

为消除因用Hoek-Brown经验公式的中间变量而导致评估的稳定性概率产生累积误差,提出岩体稳定性可靠度应直接由基本变量入手来评估.简要介绍Hoek-Brown经验公式评估力学参数方法后,根据微元体应力定义了单元安全系数,建立了包含Hoek-Brown经验公式基本变量在内的功能函数.选用了Rosenbleuth点估计法评估单元安全系数的概率特征值,介绍了与有限元法结合计算稳定性可靠度的基本流程.对一开挖边坡稳定性可靠度计算分析表明,计算结果与边坡实际发生的破坏特征一致.建议的方法可方便地用于边坡、地基和地下洞室中岩体稳定性的可靠度评价.     

管涌与滤层的研究(Ⅱ): 滤层

对管涌和滤层两个相关联问题的研究和发展过程进行了综述和评论;同时也给出了过去的研究成果,并与之进行比较。在滤层研究方面,指出了由平均粒径一点控制到两点和级配曲线多点控制的发展趋势;研究表明:太沙基的滤层规格比较保守,应结合内外水动力学研究砂砾滤层和织物滤层的适用规格。而粘土的滤层设计,关键是看能否发生贯穿性裂缝,其设计思想悬殊;井管滤层的淤堵失效应研究抽洗复苏的良策。