Abstract

Internal erosion is widely perceived as contributing to the failure of earthen dams. To reduce the failure risk, timely monitoring of internal erosion is an effective method in observing their internal structure evolution. A set of earthen dam model experiments were conducted. Under an applied voltage, the response potential differences (PD) at the slope of the dam models were collected before and after the impoundment of the upstream reservoir. The discrepancy among the four dam models, the influence of soil moisture content on PD, and the impact of internal erosion on PD were studied. The results show that it is acceptable to employ different dam models to simulate the development of internal erosion, although the discrepancy among the models is inevitable. The moisture content of the soil significantly affects the PD response to applied voltage. The PD increases with an increase in soil moisture content until the soil is saturated. The change in PD is correlated with the development of internal erosion. With the progression of internal erosion, the starting position for the steep increase in PD distribution continues to move toward the dam toe. In addition, the electrode stability is noted to have an effect on measured PD, which requires further studies to be clarified. This study sets the stage for the PD-based monitoring method in observing the evolution of internal erosion in earthen dams.

Highlights

  • IntroductionDue to low design standards [2], poor construction quality [3], and invasive wildlife activities [4], the various anomalous zones (including cracks, holes, and uncompacted zones) are generally inevitable in earthen dams [5,6,7]

  • This study aims to explore the influence of internal erosion in earthen dams on the potential difference (PD) response to applied voltage

  • Based on the experiment results, we study the discrepancy among the four dam models and the influence of soil moisture content on PD, and mainly discuss the relation between the change in PD and the development of internal erosion

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Due to low design standards [2], poor construction quality [3], and invasive wildlife activities [4], the various anomalous zones (including cracks, holes, and uncompacted zones) are generally inevitable in earthen dams [5,6,7]. Under seepage, these anomalous zones evolve into the high-permeability zones, which can trigger the hydraulic removal of soil particles, namely the initiation of internal erosion. This process is known as backward erosion, as described by Richards and Reddy [8]

Objectives
Methods
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call