Internal erosion vulnerability of core soil due to drought: Case study of three zoned dams

Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2021     |     PP. 15-36      |     PDF (1925 K)    |     Pub. Date: December 8, 2021
DOI: 10.54647/cebc56065    89 Downloads     5786 Views  

Author(s)

Ahmed Jalil, LOMC UMR 6294 CNRS-University of Le Havre Normandie, Department of civil Engineering, 53 rue de Prony 76600 Le Havre, France; Laboratory of Materials and Environment Engineering, University of Ibn Tofail, B.P 242, Kenitra, Morocco
Ahmed Benamar, LOMC UMR 6294 CNRS-University of Le Havre Normandie, Department of civil Engineering, 53 rue de Prony 76600 Le Havre, France.
Mohamed Ebn Touhami, Laboratory of Materials and Environment Engineering, University of Ibn Tofail, B.P 242, Kenitra, Morocco

Abstract
Very long dry seasons due to high temperature and decrease of rainfall rate, may threaten the stability of dams and dikes, and make them more sensitive to internal erosion. This vulnerability raises a question of how such hydraulic structures could behave after the degradation of soil properties. This research investigated the susceptibility of three zoned dams in Morocco to internal erosion, particularly after the dam’s core soil was submitted to the drying effect due to the drought, causing desiccation. For this purpose, Hole Erosion Tests (HETs) carried out on core soils collected from the three dams aimed to assess their vulnerability to erosion after desiccation. The materials have been also analyzed in order to assess their suitability to dam construction using the usual engineering guidelines. The erosion results, analyzed through the erosion kinetics and soil resistance classification, showed an initial high resistance to internal erosion of tested soils, but the desiccation makes the core soils more vulnerable to erosion, especially for Mazer dam whose core soil is a lean clay. So, the soil resistance degradation affected in a different way the three core soils. So, a drought phase may threat strongly the core resistance against erosion, leading to serious damage in dam stability when refilling occurs during floods.

Keywords
Internal erosion; Base soil; Drought; Desiccation; Zoned Dam.

Cite this paper
Ahmed Jalil, Ahmed Benamar, Mohamed Ebn Touhami, Internal erosion vulnerability of core soil due to drought: Case study of three zoned dams , SCIREA Journal of Civil Engineering and Building Construction . Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2021 | PP. 15-36. 10.54647/cebc56065

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