Experiments on submerged slope erosion under unsteady water head

Abstract

The unsteady property of seepage among the slope soil may induce higher erosion. The research results which were carried out by previous scholars were usually based on constant water head while the slope erosion under unsteady water head has not been specially studied. A new setup was proposed in this paper to study the submerged slope erosion under unsteady water head. Using the proposed setup, a series of tests were conducted by contrasting slope erosion conditions with constant water head and with unsteady water head. These tests were purposed to represent the scouring process of unsteady slope soil detachment under periodic upward seepage loading, and to reveal the mechanism of periodic seepage on slope erosion. The measurements focused on the changing profiles of unsteady slope soil and threw light on the details of different seepage conditions, particularly with respect to terrains of seepage formation during the tests. According to the experimental analysis in different seepage conditions of water head, performance of the proposed apparatus was confirmed and the results show that periodic upward seepage would accelerate the erosion, and the effects of periodic seepage loading on slope erosion were quantified in detail. The results can be introduced into the theories of slope erosion to consider the effect of periodic upward seepage on slope soil detachment, and be applied in the erosion protection.