68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

PIEZOCONE TESTING APPLICATIONS FOR SAFETY ANALYSES OF DAMS ON STRATIFIED DEPOSITS

Session: In Situ Testing and Instrumentation I / Essais in situ et instrumentation I

Valérie Michaud, Groupe Qualitas Inc. (Canada)
Marc Smith, Hydro-Québec (Canada)
Éric Péloquin, Hydro-Québec (Canada)
Pierre-Alain Konrad, Groupe Qualitas Inc. (Canada)

Piezocone testing is largely used for dam foundation investigations. This sounding technique has shown satisfactory result in stratified deposit. For dam safety analysis, the main challenge remains the understanding of the groundwater conditions within the stratified deposits. The latter is assessed from dissipation test achieved within the sounding. This article presents two cases studies where piezocone testing (including dissipation tests) were performed in order to determine an accurate stratigraphy not only based on soil behavior but also on units having similar total head pressure.