Modelling the poroelastoplastic behaviour of soils subjected to internal erosion by suffusion

Granular soils subjected to seepage flow may suffer suffusion, ie, a selective internal erosion. Extending the classical approach of poromechanics, we deduce a new form of the Clausius-Duhem inequality accounting for dissipation due to suffusion, and we deduce restrictions on the constitutive laws of the soil. We suggest (a) a possible coupling between the seepage forces and the suffusion kinetics and (b) an extension of an existing elastoplastic model for the skeleton mechanical behaviour. Numerical integrations of the elastoplastic model are carried out under drained axisymmetric triaxial and oedometric conditions. As a result, we prove that the extended model is able to qualitatively reproduce the suffusion induced strains and the strength reduction experimentally observed. Predictions on the oedometric behaviour of suffusive soils are also provided.     

砂性土细颗粒起动临界水力坡降计算方法

地下水渗流作用下内部不稳定砂性土将发生潜蚀现象,潜蚀作用引起的土体渗透破坏会对土工建筑物或地基造成不良影响。考虑土体有效应力和细颗粒应力折减,建立渗流场中细颗粒受力模型,根据极限受力平衡状态得到潜蚀过程中砂性土细颗粒起动临界水力坡降计算公式,并通过DEM-CFD耦合方法以及现有试验数据进行验证。结果表明:砂性土中细颗粒以滚动方式起动,起动临界水力坡降受渗流水流、土体特性以及颗粒自身特性共同影响;砂性土表层细颗粒起动临界水力坡降受埋深影响较大,埋深1 cm的细颗粒最高、最低起动临界水力坡降相差10.169%,埋深10 cm时差异减少至1.061%。该计算方法与数值模拟和渗流试验结果的最大标准误差分别为6.038%、11.211%,可以较为准确地预测砂性土细颗粒起动临界水力坡降。     

The influence of the void fraction on the particle migration: A coupled computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method study about drag force correlations

Granular soils subjected to flow through their soil skeleton can show a behaviour in which fine particles migrate through the pore space between coarser particles. This process is called internal instability or suffusion. This contribution deals with the numerical analysis of the migration of fine particles in a soil column subjected to fluid flow with unresolved coupled computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method (CFD–DEM) with special regards to the used drag force correlation. The contribution investigates the influence of the Schiller–Naumann model and its extension with a voidage term on the migration behaviour of fine particles. The voidage term is further varied with a parameter, which controls the impact of the change of the void fraction on the drag force. It could be observed that the Schiller–Naumann model does not yield in a suffusive behaviour while the extended models show significant particle migration. Thereby, increasing the impact of the void fraction on the drag force results in stronger particle migration. These results reveal the need for good validation techniques. They indicate how the drag force correlation can be adapted to depict the correct particle migration behaviour.     

深厚覆盖层地基潜蚀研究综述

潜蚀是深厚覆盖层渗透稳定性问题中比较主要和突出的一种表现型式,开展深厚覆盖层潜蚀问题的相关试验及理论研究,对于保障中国已建、待建重大水电工程的安全均具有重要的理论和实际意义。首先,区分了潜蚀与向后侵蚀管涌,指出潜蚀与向后侵蚀管涌的发生机制完全不同,两者不能混淆在一起。与向后侵蚀管涌相比,潜蚀更具隐蔽性,其发生发展机制更加复杂。其次,从潜蚀发生的几何条件、水力条件及潜蚀数学模型等3个方面详细梳理总结了潜蚀研究的相关进展。最后,结合雅鲁藏布江下游水电开发等国家重大工程,提出未来应着重加强对原状覆盖层土体内部稳定性评价,对极端条件、复杂渗流条件、复杂地层条件下潜蚀发生发展机制,潜蚀时间效应及其长期影响的评价和控制,对潜蚀本构关系及其数学模型等方面的试验及理论研究。     

A coupled CFD-DEM investigation of suffusion of gap graded soil: Coupling effect of confining pressure and fines content

Suffusion involves fine particles migration within the matrix of coarse fraction under seepage flow, which usually occurs in the gap-graded material of dams and levees. Key factors controlling the soil erodibility include confining pressure (p′) and fines content (F_c), of which the coupling effect on suffusion still remains contradictory, as concluded from different studies considering narrow scope of these factors. For this reason, a systematical numerical simulation that considers a relative wide range of p′ and F_c was performed with the coupled discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics approach. Two distinct macroresponses of soil suffusion to p′ were revealed, ie, for a given hydraulic gradient i = 2, an increase in p′ intensifies the suffusion of soil with fines overfilling the voids (eg, F_c = 35%), but have negligible effects on the suffusion of gap-graded soil containing fines underfilling the voids (eg, F_c = 20%). The micromechanical analyses, including force chain buckling and strain energy release, reveal that when the fines overfilled the voids between coarse particles (eg, F_c = 35%) and participated heavily in load-bearing, the erosion of fines under high i could cause the collapse of the original force transmission structure. The release of higher strain energy within samples under higher p′ accelerated particle movement and intensified suffusion. Conversely, in the case where the fines underfilled the voids between coarse particles (eg, F_c = 20%), the selective erosion of fines had little influence on the force network. High p′ in this case prevented suffusion.     

Modelling of internal erosion based on mixture theory: General framework and a case study of soil suffusion

A general thermo-hydro-mechanical framework for the modelling of internal erosion is proposed based on the theory of mixtures applied to two-phase porous media. The erodible soil is partitioned in two phases: one solid phase and one fluid phase. The solid phase is composed of nonerodible grains and erodible particles. The fluid phase is composed of water and fluidized particles. Within the fluid phase, species diffuse. Across phases, species transfer. The modelling of internal erosion is contributed directly by mass transfer from the solid phase towards the fluid phase. The constitutive relations governing the thermomechanical behaviour, generalised diffusion, and transfer are structured by the dissipation inequality. The particular case of soil suffusion is investigated with a focus on constitutive laws. A new constitutive law for suffusion is constructed based on thermodynamic conditions and experimental investigations. This erosion law is linearly related to the power of seepage flow and to the erosion resistance index. Owing to its simplicity, this law tackles the overall trend of the suffusion process and permits the formulation of an analytical solution. This new model is then applied to simulate laboratory experiments, by both analytical and numerical methods. The comparison shows that the newly developed model, which is theoretically consistent, can reproduce correctly the overall trend of the cumulated eroded mass when the permeability evolution is small. In addition, the results are provided for four different materials, two different specimen sizes, and various hydraulic loading paths to demonstrate the applicability of the new proposed law.     

DEM investigations of internal erosion: Grain transport in the light of micromechanics

Internal erosion by suffusion can change dramatically the constitutive behavior of granular materials by modifying the fabric of granular materials. In this study, the effect of an internal fluid flow on granular materials is investigated at the material point scale using the numerical coupling between a discrete element method (DEM) and a pore-scale finite volume (PFV) coupling scheme. The influence of the stress state and the hydraulic loading (direction and intensity) on the occurrence of grain transport in dense widely graded granular samples is thus investigated and interpreted in terms of micromechanics. In particular, it is shown that grain transport is increased when the macroscopic flow direction is aligned with the privileged force chain orientation. The stress-induced microstructure modifications are shown to influence the transport distances by controlling the number of rattlers.