Potential for Seepage Erosion of Landslide Dam
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 120, Issue 7
Abstract
The failure potential of the debris‐avalanche dam at Castle Lake near Mount St. Helens, Washington, by three processes of seepage erosion: (1) Heave; (2) piping; and (3) internal erosion, is examined. A three‐dimensional ground‐water model of the dam was constructed and used in conjunction with properties of the blockage material to examine the dam's stability against failure by heave and piping. Results indicated that the dam is stable against piping but potentially locally unstable against heave. Comparison of physical properties of the blockage materials with critical physical properties for embankment dams that have experienced distress because of internal erosion shows the blockage to be marginally stable against internal erosion. A ground‐water mound as much as 10 m (35 ft) above lake level formed in the dam and is responsible for creating vertical hydraulic gradients capable of inducing heave. Similar mounds may exist in embankment dams of comparable geometry and hydraulic conductivity.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Casagrande, A. (1935). “Discussion of ‘Security for under‐seepage: Masonry dams on earth foundations,’ by E. W. Lane.” Trans., ASCE, 1289.
2.
Chugaev, R. R. (1958). “Design and calculation of the underground profile of dams on pervious foundation.” Proc., 6th Int. Congress on Large Dams, International Commission on Large Dams, Paris, France, Vol. 2, 1403–1433.
3.
De Mello, V. F. (1975). “Some lessons from unsuspected, real and fictitious problems in earth dam engineering in Brazil.” Proc., 6th Regional Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg. Conf. for Africa, A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2, 285–304.
4.
Ergenzinger, P. (1988). “Regional erosion: rates and scale problems in the Buonamico Basin, Calabria.” Geomorphic Processes in Environments with Strong Seasonal Contrasts; Vol. II, Geomorphic Systems, Catena Supplement 13, A. M. Harvey and M. Sala, eds., Int. Soc. of Soil Sci., Braunschweig, Federal Republic of Germany, 97–107.
5.
Glazyrin, G. Ye., and Reyzvikh, V. N. (1968). “Computation of the flow hydrograph for the breach of landslide lakes.” Soviet Hydro., Soviet Union, 492–496.
6.
Glicken, H. (1985). “Rockslide‐debris avalanche of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens volcano,” PhD dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.
7.
Harr, M. E. (1962). Groundwater and seepage. McGraw‐Hill, New York, N.Y.
8.
Inman, D. L. (1952). “Measures for describing the size distribution of sediments.” J. Sediment. Petr., 22, 125–145.
9.
Khosla, A. N., Bose, N. K., and Taylor, E. M. (1936). Design of weirs on permeable foundations; Publ. 12, Central Board of Irrigation, India.
10.
Laenen, A., and Orzol, L. L. (1987). “Flood hazards along the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers, Washington, from a hypothetical failure of Castle Lake blockage.” Water‐Resour. Investigations Rep. 87‐4055, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
11.
Lane, E. W. (1935). “Security from under‐seepage: masonry dams on earth foundations.” Trans., ASCE, 1235–1272.
12.
Marsland, A. (1953). “Model experiments to study the influence of seepage on the stability of a sheeted excavation in sand.” Geotechnique, London, England, 3(2), 233–240.
13.
Meyer, W., and Carpenter, P. J. (1983). “Filling of Spirit Lake, May 18, 1980 to July 31, 1982.” Open‐File Rep. 82‐771, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
14.
Meyer, W., and Sabol, M. A. (1989). “Hydrology of the Castle Lake blockage.” Water‐Resour. Investigations Rep. 87‐4272, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
15.
Schuster, R. L., and Costa, J. E. (1986). “A perspective on landslide dams.” Landslide dams: processes, risk, and mitigation; Geotech. Spec. Publ. 3, R. L. Schuster, ed., ASCE, New York, N.Y., 1–20.
16.
Scott, R. G. (1970). “Landslides in Cache Canyon downstream from the Wilson Valley damsites.” Memorandum Rep., Dept. of Water Resources, Sacramento, Calif.
17.
Seed, H. B., and Duncan, J. M. (1981). “The Teton Dam—a retrospective review.” Proc., 10th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg., A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Vol. 4, 219–238.
18.
Sherard, J. L. (1979). “Sinkholes in dams of coarse, broadly graded soils.” Trans., 13th Int. Congress on Large Dams, International Commission on Large Dams, Paris, France, Vol. 2, 25–35.
19.
Sherard, J. L., Woodward, R. J., Gizienski, S. F., and Clevenger, W. A. (1963). Earth and earth‐rock dams. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y.
20.
Snow, D. T. (1964). “Landslide of Cerro Condor‐Sencca, Department of Ayacucho, Peru,” Engineering geology case histories, G. A. Kiersch, ed., Geological Society of America, 5, 1–6.
21.
Terzaghi, K. (1960a). “Der Grundbach an Stauwerken und seine Verhutung.” From theory to practice in soil mechanics. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., 119–132.
22.
Terzaghi, K. (1960b). “Effect of minor geologic details on the safety of dams.” From theory to practice in soil mechanics. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., 119–132.
23.
Terzaghi, K., and Peck, R. B. (1967). Soil mechanics in engineering practice. John Wiley and Sons, New York, N.Y.
24.
Trescott, P. C. (1975). “Documentation of finite‐difference model for simulation of three‐dimensional ground‐water flow.” Open‐File Rep. 75‐438, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
25.
Trescott, P. C., and Larson, S. P. (1976). “Documentation of finite‐difference model for simulation of three‐dimensional ground‐water flow; supplement.” Open‐File Rep. 76‐591, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
26.
van Zyl, D. J. (1979). “Seepage erosion of geotechnical structures subjected to confined flow—a probabilistic design approach,” PhD thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
27.
van Zyl, D., and Harr, M. E. (1981). “Seepage erosion analysis of structures.” Proc., 10th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg., Stockholm, Sweden, Vol. 1, 503–509.
28.
W. A. Wahler and Associates. (1973). “Analysis of coal refuse dam failure, Middle Fork Buffalo Creek, Saunders West Virginia.” Nat. Tech. Info. Service Rep. PB‐215, Washington, D.C., 142 and 143.
29.
Youd, T. L., Wilson, R. C., and Schuster, R. L. (1981). “Stability of blockage in North Fork Toutle River.” The 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington;Professional Paper 1250, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C., 821–828.
30.
Zaki, H., and Leliavsky, S. (1948). “Tail erosion as a factor affecting the safety coefficient against piping.” Proc., 3rd Int. Cong. on Large Dams, Vol. 2, 10.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 120 • Issue 7 • July 1994
Pages: 1211 - 1229
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 20, 1991
Published online: Jul 1, 1994
Published in print: Jul 1994
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.