In embankments and earth dams, the granular filter used to protect the base soil from being eroded by the fluid flow is a major safety device. In this paper, the migration mechanism of the base soil through this type of filters with a fluid flow in the base soil-filter system is studied by using the coupled distinct element method and computational fluid dynamics（DEM-CFD） model. The time-dependent variations of the system parameters such as the total eroded base soil mass, the distribution of the eroded particles within the filter, the porosity, the pore water pressure, and the flow discharge are obtained and analyzed. The conceptions of the trapped particle and the trapped ratio are proposed in order to evaluate the trapped condition of the base soil particles in the filter. The variation of the trapped ratio with time is also analyzed. The results show that the time evolutions of the parameters mentioned above are directly related to the gradation of the filter, which is defined as the representative particle size ratio of the base soil to the filter using an empirical filter design criterion. The feasibility of the model is validated by comparing the numerical results with some experimental and numerical results.
The effect of temperature on the rock fracture permeability is a very important factor in the prediction of the permeability of enhanced geothermal systems and in reservoir engineering. In this study, the flow-through experiments were conducted on a single limestone fracture at different temperatures of 25℃, 40℃ and 60℃, and with differential pressures of 0.3 MPa and 0.4 MPa. The experimental results suggest a complex temporal evolution of the fracture aperture. The aperture increases considerably with increasing temperature and reduces gradually to a steady value at a stable temperature. The results of three short-term experiments （QT-1, QT-2, QT-3） indicate an exponential relationship between the permeability and the temperature change ratio （△T/ T）, which provides a further evidence that the rising temperature increases the aperture. It is shown that the changing temperature has its influence on two possible accounts： the chemical dissolution and the pressure dissolution. These two processes have opposite impacts on the fracture permeability. The chemical dissolution increases the permeability with a rising temperature while the pressure disso- lution reduces the permeability with a stable temperature. These make a very complex picture of the permeability evolution. Our results show that the fracture permeability reduces 39.2% when the temperature increases by 15℃ （during the 25℃-4℃ interval） and 42.6% when the temperature increases by 20℃ （during the 40℃-60℃ interval）. It can be concluded that the permeability decreases to a greater extent for larger increases in temperature.
Prolonged immersion in floodwater is one of the main causes of embankment failure or dam breaks, although failure mechanisms have not been extensively studied. In this study, an embankment model was constructed to investigate the influence of prolonged immersion in floodwater on the failure of an embankment. The results indicate that： （1） the phreatic surface gradually rises and negative pore pressures gradually dissipate with the time of prolonged immersion in floodwater, and, finally, a stable and fully saturated state is reached; （2） observable cracks and a heave phenomenon are found near the downstream toe and in the top stratum of the foundation, which are attributed to the large uplift pressure on the interface between the top stratum and the pervious substratum, the tremendous impact effect induced by the rapid rise in water level, and the reduction of shear strength of heavy silt loam. The present study enhances our in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms of embankment failure induced by floodwater, and provides experimental data for validation of mathematical models of the embankment seepage failure.
The joint of clay core-wall and concrete cut-off wall is one of the weakest parts in high earth and rockftll dams.A kind of highly plastic clay is always fixed on the joint to fit the large shear deformation between clay core-wall and concrete cut-offwall,so the hydro-mechanical coupling mechanisms on the joint under high stress,high hydraulic gradient,and large shear deformation are of great importance for the evaluation of dam safety.The hydro-mechanical coupling characteristics of the joint of the highly plastic clay and the concrete cut-off wall in a high earth and rockfill dam in China were studied by using a newly designed soil-structure contact erosion apparatus.The experimental results indicate that：1） Shear failure on the joint is due to the hydro-mechanical coupling effect of stress and seepage failure.The seepage failure will induce the final shear failure when the ratio of deviatoric stress to confining pressure is within 1.0-1.2; 2） A negative exponential permeability empirical model for the joint denoted by a newly defined principal stress function,which considers the coupling effect of confining pressure and axial pressure on the permeability,is established based on hydro-mechanical coupling experiments.3） The variation of the settlement before and after seepage failure is very different.The settlement before seepage failure changes very slowly,while it increases significantly after the seepage failure.4） The stress-strain relationship is of a strain softening type.5） Flow along the joint still follows Darcian flow rule.The results will provide an important theoretical basis for the further evaluation on the safety of the high earth and rockfill dam.
A stochastic simulation of fluid flow in porous media using a complex variable expression method （SFCM） is presented in this paper. Hydraulic conductivity is considered as a random variable and is then expressed in complex variable form, the real part of which is a deterministic value and the imaginary part is a variable value. The stochastic seepage flow is simulated with the SFCM and is compared with the results calculated with the Monte Carlo stochastic finite element method. In using the Monte Carlo method to simulate the stochastic seepage flow field, the hydraulic conductivity is assumed in three different probability distributions using random sampling method. The obtained seepage flow field is examined through skewness analysis, and the skewed distribution probability density function is given. The head mode value and the head comprehensive standard deviation are used to represent the statistics of calculation results obtained by the Monte Carlo method. The stochastic seepage flow field simulated by the SFCM is confirmed to be similar to that given by the Monte Carlo method from numerical aspects. The range of coefficient of variation of hydraulic conductivity in SFCM is larger than used previously in stochastic seepage flow field simulations, and the computation time is short. The results proved that the SFCM is a convenient calculating method for solving the complex problems.
