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AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF CONTACT EROSION BETWEEN A TILL CORE AND COARSER CREST AND FILTER MATERIALS
Session: Embankments and Dams / Remblais et barrages
Pierre-Olivier Dionne, Université Laval (Canada)
Jean-Marie Konrad, Université Laval (Canada)
Contact erosion is an internal erosion process found in embankment dams and dikes which can lead to failure. It is defined as the pullout and dragging of fines from a base material through an adjacent coarser material under seepage parallel to the interface. This study intends to understand and to identify the mechanisms that control contact erosion with a well-graded base soil (till) combined with different filter materials. To study the erosion process, a new experimental setup has been developed. It was found that the grading of the base material as an impact on the initiation and progression of erosion as different mechanisms such as paving and clogging can develop to limit or even stop the erosion. A conceptualization of the erosion process depending on the grain size of both filter and base soils and on the hydraulic solicitation is proposed.
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