Mitigation of levee failures using deep mixed columns and geosynthetics

Abstract

Stability of levees is critical to the safety of human and structures, especially at high water levels. Levees may fail due to the existence of soft soil foundations or seepage of water through the levees or rapid drawdown. Deep mixing technology has been considered one of the good alternatives to solve foundation and seepage problems while geosynthetics can be used to stabilize slopes during rapid drawdown. Studies have shown that deep mixed columns and geosynthetics can increase the stability of highway embankments over soft soils. In those studies, however, no ponding water exists on either side of the embankment, which is not the case for levees. Experimental studies have shown that deep mixed columns under a combination of vertical and horizontal force could fail due to shear or tension/bending or rotation. A finite difference method, incorporated in the FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) Slope software, and a limit equilibrium method (specifically Bishop's method), incorporated in the ReSSA software, were adopted in this study to investigate the stability of the levee with ponding water or under rapid drawdown. In this study, deep mixed columns were installed in continuous wall patterns, which were modeled as 2D deep mixed walls. Geosynthetic layers were modeled using cable elements with grout properties between geosynthetic and soil in the numerical analysis. Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria were used for the levee, the soft soil, and the deep mixed walls. The stability of a levee at different stages (end of construction, average service condition, high water surge, and rapid drawdown from the service condition and the highest water level condition) was examined. The study clearly demonstrated that the deep mixed walls can enhance the stability of the levee by providing shear/moment resistance and hindering seepage through the levee and geosynthetics can enhance the riverside slope stability of the levee by providing tensile resistance to the soil.