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Cohesive Soil
Robert-Balthasar Wudtke* and Karl Josef Witt*
* Bauhaus-University Weimar, Dep. Geotechnical Engineering, Germany
I. INTRODUCTION
During percolation of soil the forces of resistance are
getting activated within a soil body. This leads to a
reduction of the hydraulic potential in direction of flow.
Hydraulic heave initialised by an ultimate hydraulic
gradient occurs as a sudden base failure if flow forces
exceed the soil resistance i. e. dead load and shear forces.
In non cohesive soils the expansion of the pore
microstructure precedes hydraulic heave in a state of
liquefaction if there is no grain-to-grain contact pressure
during the different states. When developing hydraulic
heave a movement of single sand particles occurs at first
followed by a temporary abrupt lifting of the upper soil
layers what can finally lead to a selective boiling like a
viscous fluid (see Fig. 1).
To estimate the safety against hydraulic heave in non
cohesive soil, different calculation methods have been Figure 1. Hydraulic heave of a two layer soil system with a relative
developed. The most conventional methods are presented impervious top layer [4]
by Terzaghi [8] and Davidenkoff [2]. A comparison of
both methods shows that the crucial difference between against hydraulic heave. To document the effect of a
them is based on the regarded soil volume to define the variable hydraulic influence on the stress distribution
representative seepage force. Terzaghi uses in his theory a along a sheet pile wall results of calculations will be
quasi static equilibrium of acting flow forces and resisting presented. To detect the failure type mentioned above
dead load related to a defined soil continuum. experiments were carried out. The method and first results
Davidenkoff relates his theory to the maximum possible are reported.
hydraulic gradient acting along the sheet pile. In any case
his approach gives the most conservative assumption due II. HYDRAULIC HEAVE IN COHESIVE SOIL
to the fact that the limit state is reached with a
weightlessness of a single grain (eff < 0) when a local To prove the safety against hydraulic heave two
liquefaction of soil occurs. different failure scenarios of the ultimate state are
possible: A failure due to erosion of particles and a wedge
With regard to cohesive soils both methods are suitable failure mechanism. A failure due to erosion can be
to only a limited extent. To guarantee a feasible characterised as liquefaction depending on the local
consideration of cohesion as the relevant parameter the hydraulic gradient. During wedge failure a soil continuum
following questions have to be answered: breaks into single parts. The failure is initiated by a
- How does cohesion have influence on the failure discrete crack that will arise in a pre-failure state or can be
process? Does the simple model of the failure process in produced by exceeding the tensile strength. Liquefaction
non cohesive soil meet the conditions? as well as wedge failure occurs if the effective stress in a
- Is the failure mechanism more a liquefaction of the soil soil becomes zero. Main difference between both failure
or is the model of a wedge failure more adequate? mechanisms is the additional tensile strength within a
- At which stress state and at which location a crack will cohesive soil. Consequently in a non cohesive soil
be initiated? hydraulic heave occurs typically by liquefaction as
consequence of a structure collapse due to dilatancy while
- How does the change of the shear properties influence
wedge failure can only occur when a tensile strength of
the change of the effective stresses and the pore water
the soil is activated or if a shear resistance arises in inner
pressure in the state of failure?
shear zones.
Based on known theories to estimate the stability
The different types of calculation have to be analysed in
against erosion a limitation of the range of application in
order to estimate the effect of cohesion on limit state
connection with hydraulic failure in form of liquefaction
conditions. An analysis of different approaches to estimate
and through wedge failure in consideration of the
the stability against erosion leads to the following criteria
parameter cohesion will be introduced. To show an
for erosion of single grains or grain aggregates expressed
application of wedge failure a mechanic sensible basic
by the global factor of safety FoS.
approach will be presented in order to estimate the safety
approach of Zou a consideration of the pressure state is
Dp = 0,002 m possible. In formula (4) he considered the effective lateral
1e+4 pressure x0 and the shearing stress within the erosion
capillary p. A factor T1 is defined to consider the fabric
of the soil.
Assuming a safety factor of FoS = 1 the erosion criteria
mentioned above are plotted in Fig. 2 as function of the
1e+3
critical gradient depending on cohesion for an upward
critical gradient [-]
FoS = (4)
1e-4
2 p + w i ' D p
T1
1e-5
While the derivation of their erosion criteria the authors
consider in [3], [5] and [6] the shear parameters and c,
the equivalent pore diameter of the filter soil Dp and the 1e-6
gradient of the contact plane between the cohesive 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
material and the filter soil relative to horizontal line, hydraulic gradient [-]
represented by the angle . The context shown in formula
(1) to (4) is significant for an upward flow out of the Figure 3. Correlation between permeability and critical gradient of soils
percolated soil into the filter layer. According to the with small cohesion [5]
with the simplified formula:
p* = ' + t (5)
Symbols: Cu vertical part of the force from undrained cohesion, G dead load under uplift, S streaming force,
Z tensile force over width of the failure body, hu potential difference, m t width of the failure body
Figure 5. Different types of wedge failure [9]
At the base of a wall the hydraulic gradient on a
supporting sheet pile wall of an excavation reaches the
highest values. The realisable potential difference at the
base of the wall hu is the excess head related to the
deepest part of the sheet pile wall and can be estimated
with formula 6:
cu
t ' + 1,5
hu = m (6)
w