Databases for Backward Erosion Piping Laboratory Experiments and Field Observations

Abstract

Backward erosion piping is a failure mechanism which involves the formation of shallow pipes in a sandy foundation layer and is considered to be a major risk for levees. For understanding this mechanism and the development of prediction models, laboratory experiments are essential. In addition, due to scale effects and heterogeneity in field conditions, field observations and case histories are indispensable for validation of models and delineation of piping sensitive conditions. However, both experiments and field observations are often not easily utilized for this purpose. Piping experiments have been conducted in various research programmes, countries, and in a variety of configurations making the experiments difficult to compare due to inconsistent observations and differing configurations. Case histories are often poorly documented and like experiments, described in different sources and different levels of detail, due to which their full potential is often not reached. Given the importance of experimental and field data for the prediction of backward erosion piping, a need exists for a centralized organization of data. Two different databases are presented here, for laboratory experiments and field observations respectively, each combined with a web application for viewing and exporting the data. The laboratory experiment database is populated with 332 experiments. The field observation database is currently populated with 3 failure cases and 2840 sand boils located in the Netherlands and the United States. Future work will focus on a more complete population of the databases, user-friendliness of the web viewer, and analysis of the gathered data for improvement of prediction models.