Abstract
When the sheet pile is used as the reservoir wall or retains the action of saturated fills and cuts for construction works, it will be certain that the seepage occurs from the back side (retained side) to the working place (opposite side). Often, the rate of seepage and its quantity in homogenous strata depends mainly on the permeability of soil. However, the presence of cavity certainly has a direct impact on trend, steady time, and the quantity of seepage. The present study considered a preliminary attempt to measure this impact through physical model. Eighteen model tests are conducted to study the effect of different locations and diameters (size) of single cavity on the seepage problem when it is presented at upstream side (back side) of the sheet pile wall. Period of completion every model test ranged from four to seven days. The start time of seepage when the water began to flow from the downstream side (working place) ranged between 13min and 26min, which depended on the location of cavity and its size. However, the results show that the quantities of seepage generally increase with the smallest size of a cavity and with the farthest horizontal distance from the sheet pile. The maximum quantity has been recorded when the cavity is located at the same level of sheet pile end.
Highlights
Sheet piles are interlocking walls which are designed to resist horizontal forces as they are embedded in soils
Eighteen model tests are conducted to study the effect of locations and diameters of cavity when it is located at upstream side of the sheet pile wall on seepage problem
Three parametric variables related to the influence of cavity have been tested which are the diameter, D, the horizontal distance of cavity from sheet pile (X), and the vertical distance of cavity measured from the water level of the reservoir (Yu)
Summary
Sheet piles are interlocking walls which are designed to resist horizontal forces as they are embedded in soils. In gypsum soil the piping occurs due to chemical action by dissolving salt (gypsum salt) with seeping water and leaving a cavity This phenomenon had not been yet studied or analyzed practically or theoretically with presence of sheet pile wall. The study derived a formula could be used to predict the quantity of seepage in terms of spacing between the sheet pile wall and center of the cavity at the upstream and the downstream zones and the spacing between water level and the center of the cavity at both zones It could be concluded from the above related state of arts, solely those conducted by Aziz [3] and Maatooq et al [15], no research was close to the impact of the cavity when it was present within the influence of a flow lines on the behavior of seepage
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