Filtration of Broadly Graded Cohesive Dispersive Base Soils
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 5
Abstract
Dispersive soils are highly susceptible to erosion, particularly when they are used as a base soil for the core of an earth dam. To prevent migration of the core material, the required filter must be designed and properly positioned in the structure. A study was carried out to assess the adequacy of the existing filter design criteria in controlling core materials that are not only dispersive but also broadly graded and are commonly available for use in the construction industry. The criteria of and , each with a reasonable factor of safety, were found to be applicable for the broadly graded, highly dispersive soils from Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. The criteria of for the soils of Group 1, for the soils of Group 2 with significant clay content, and for the soils of Group 2 with significant silt content were also found to be acceptable. Thus, the required size of a filter reduces with the increasing dispersivity of the corresponding base soil. The dispersivity prevalent in the base soils requires the required no-erosion filter boundaries for the soils of Group 2 to be lowered—more so than for the soils of Group 1. Furthermore, the constriction-based criterion of was found to be acceptable for the base soils of Group 1 with high dispersivity, with the corresponding filter having a relative density of 75%. However, for the base soils of Group 2, the criterion of was found to be acceptable; for the highly dispersive type, the required criterion was . Further tests were carried out by simultaneously considering the effects of the changing particle size distribution (PSD) and the percent dispersion (D) of the base material on the required no-erosion filter boundary, resulting in the new criterion of for the soils of Group 1. However, for the soils of Group 2, the effect of changing the on the required no-erosion filter boundary was not as profound as the effect of changing dispersivity, resulting in different no-erosion filter boundaries for the various ranges of dispersion.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of Universiti Sains Malaysia through the Postgraduate Research Grant and the Graduate Assistantship Program. They also wish to acknowledge the contribution from Dr. Ashok Raut of SMEC Holdings Limited, Australia, in providing the computer program used to create the constriction size distributions of filter materials.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 5 • May 2015
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© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 15, 2014
Accepted: Dec 1, 2014
Published online: Jan 9, 2015
Published in print: May 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Jun 9, 2015
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