Assessing the Suffusion Susceptibility of the Homogeneous Earth Dam Body Considering Spatial Variability of Soil Properties

Abstract

The suffusion susceptibility of the soil samples is evaluated through an erosion resistance index. The erosion resistance index is estimated from several soil parameters thanks to existing statistical analyses. In actual exploitation, the soil properties with the input parameters are related to the grain distribution of the soil. Vary greatly from the original design value due to the influence of many factors. One of the factors is the inherent variability. Inherent soil variability is modeled as a random field. The usual problems used to assess the suffusion susceptibility maybe not give accurate results or fully evaluate the actual working ability of the ground in each case. That is one of the reasons why dams are still eroded when they are put into use. The paper aims to assess the suffusion susceptibility of the earth dam body using a two-dimensional (2D) Stochastics random field, modeling the initial problem, considering the variability spatial of soil properties, using the assumption of a Normal random field of soil characteristics parameters. The research goals predict the two-dimensional spatial variability of erosion resistance index of the dam body, probability of suffusion susceptibility, and the variability spatial of density and internal friction angle. An illustration of a numerical simulation of a homogeneous earth dam body is presented in this paper. The scientific novelty of the paper shows the predicted results of the two-dimensional spatial variability of erosion resistance index with a contour map and probability of suffusion susceptibility of the homogeneous earth dam body. Furthermore, the two-dimensional spatial variability maps of density and internal friction angle are also shown.