Erosion Study of New Orleans Levee Materials Subjected to Plunging Water
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 4
Abstract
During Hurricane Katrina, overtopping water caused erosion and subsequent failure of several sections of I-type flood walls in New Orleans. Erosion stemmed from the kinetic energy of water falling from the top of the flood wall, unlike the typical surface erosion caused by shear flow. This study evaluated the effects of important parameters of levee soils—fines content, degree of compaction (DOC), clay mineralogy, and water content in relation to the erosion behavior of New Orleans levees subjected to the plunging water. In general, test results showed that a higher fines content contributed to greater erosion resistance. The trend became unclear when fines content exceeded 20–25%. A higher degree of compaction did not necessarily contribute to greater erosion resistance. Underwater soaked soils showed much less erosion resistance than nonsoaked soils. Soils containing expansive clay minerals showed less erosion resistance than soils containing nonexpansive clay minerals.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the funding received under a subcontract from the Department of Homeland Security-sponsored Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI) Contract No. UNSPECIFIED70023 at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. The writers thank Mr. James Tyler Kidd for his enthusiastic assistance in conducting erosion tests. We thank Thiele Kaolin Company for supplying the manufactured kaolin used in a portion of this study. We also thank the COE New Orleans office for allowing us to test its soil samples.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 4 • April 2011
Pages: 398 - 404
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 8, 2009
Accepted: Sep 15, 2010
Published online: Sep 17, 2010
Published in print: Apr 1, 2011
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