Closed-Form Solution for Stability of Slurry Trenches
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents a variational limit equilibrium closed-form solution for the stability of slurry-supported trenches in cohesive soil, frictional cohesive soil, and cohesionless soil. Study results indicate that the critical slip-surface geometry is either planar or log spiral. The normal stress distribution, which indicates the likely depth of a tension crack at the crest over the slip surface, was also obtained as part of the complete solution and as a function of groundwater-table level. The closed-form solution was used to produce stability charts for a practical range of parameters. The charts can be used to conveniently assess the stability of a given slurry trench for preliminary design. The paper gives two different examples for trenches to illustrate the influence of the slurry level on the trench stability. To introduce the analytical solution, this study is limited to a simple slurry trench problem; however, extension of the present framework to deal with complex problems would be straightforward.
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Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by National Key Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2015CB057901, the Public Service Sector R&D Project of Ministry of Water Resource of China (Grant 201501035-03), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51508160, 51278382, and 51378472), the 111 Project (Grant No. B13024), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grants 2014B06814, 2014B33414, and B15020060).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17 • Issue 1 • January 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 13, 2015
Accepted: Feb 11, 2016
Published online: Mar 29, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 29, 2016
Published in print: Jan 1, 2017
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