This study conducted laboratory experiments and numerical simulations of river embankment failure due to overtopping flow with different sediment sizes and different saturation conditions of embankment body. The influences of saturation and sediment size of embankment materials on the erosion process were discussed based on the results of the laboratory experiments, and a numerical model was developed to simulate the erosion process of embankments by flow overtopping. The developed model introduced the effects of infiltration process and resisting shear stress due to suction of unsaturated sediment as a new expression. To simulate the embankment erosion phenomenon, the numerical model consisted of four modules: two-dimensional shallow-water flow, seepage flow, sediment transport using a non-equilibrium model framework, and two-dimensional slope stability. The reproducibility of the developed model was tested using experimental data on embankment erosion. The numerical results of progressive embankment erosion well agreed with the results of the sandy river embankment experiments.
1] Structural planes, such as fractures, bedding planes, schistosity, and so on, induce heterogeneity of permeability field in geologic bodies. One of the ways to demonstrate the heterogeneity is to geostatistically infer the spatial correlation structure. This paper presents a newly developed geostatistical technique for estimating the three-dimensional heterogeneous permeability field. In the presented method, the plane-directional anisotropy of spatial correlation structure of the three-dimensional permeability field is determined by estimating semivariograms in multiplane directions, using limited in situ measurement data of basement rock permeability. A case study of a dam site shows that the spatial correlation of permeability in the direction parallel to the fault planes is greater than that perpendicular to it. Direction of the largest anisotropy of the spatial correlation of the permeability field is concordant with the strike of the major faults.
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