Influence of angularity of coarse fraction grains on internal erosion process

Didier Marot (1) , Fateh Bendahmane (1) , Hong Haï Nguyen (1)

1 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique

In earth structures and their foundations, two types of erosion can be distinguished: interface erosion and suffusion. This paper deals with suffusion process also named internal instability, which takes place inside the soil matrix. In this process, finer particles of a soil migrate within its own pore spaces. These fine particles can be cohesionless particles or clay particles. With the objective to study the effect of angularity of coarse fraction grains on suffusion a series of tests was performed on different clayey sand. Three sand type samples were tested which are different by the grain size distribution and also by the angularity of grains. A specific triaxial device was used in order to force fluid through the samples in downward direction under constant hydraulic gradients. It is shown that the angularity of coarse fraction grains may contribute to increase the erosion resistance of the tested soils by a factor of 5. Moreover for the tested soils, the grain shape has an effect on hydraulic conductivity decrease. The angularity of coarse fraction grains may intensify the geometric blocking of eroded clay particles. Finally a study is conducted to compare the different ways to characterize the angularity of grains: by an analysis of grain pictures, by using an angulometer or by measuring the internal friction angle.

Mots clés: suffusion sensitivity; laboratory experiments; clayey sand; Geotechnical engineering; suffusion sensitivity

Domaines: Mécanique des structures [physics.class-ph]; Génie civil

Didier Marot, Fateh Bendahmane, Hong Haï Nguyen. Influence of angularity of coarse fraction grains on internal erosion process. International Conference on Scour and Erosion (ICSE6), Aug 2012, Paris, France. ⟨hal-01716703⟩