Quick assessment on susceptibility to suffusion of continuously graded soils by curvature of particle size distribution

Abstract

As a major type of soil internal erosion, suffusion is causative for many geotechnical problems of earth structures and foundations. Although full laboratory tests are laborious, it is inevitable for susceptible soils. However, a good quick assessment can define those susceptible soils by eliminating quickly very stable and unstable soils from consideration. Traditional assessment methods often correlate and combine some predefined fixed particle sizes representing coarse and fine fractions of soils. This paper presents a novel, simple assessment method for identifying susceptibility to suffusion based on the general curvature of particle size distribution of soils. The further down a particle size distribution departs from its mean line, the more likely it behaves suffusive. The new assessment method has been tested against experimental data, and the results show some good correlation.