Critical hydraulic gradient and fine particle migration of sand under upward seepage flow

Bo Wang; Long-Wei Chen; Zhen Niu

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-18720-9

Critical hydraulic gradient and fine particle migration of sand under upward seepage flow

Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 24;12(1):14440. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18720-9.

Authors

Bo Wang^{1

2}, Long-Wei Chen³, Zhen Niu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration; Key Laboratory of Earthquake Disaster Mitigation, Ministry of Emergency Management, Harbin, 150080, Heilongjiang, China. wangbo1983@cumt.edu.cn.
² State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China. wangbo1983@cumt.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration; Key Laboratory of Earthquake Disaster Mitigation, Ministry of Emergency Management, Harbin, 150080, Heilongjiang, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

In order to study the mechanism of seepage-induced geotechnical damage and characteristics of fine particle migration in sandy soil, a one-dimensional upward seepage test device was used and a series of upward seepage flow tests of sand were conducted. In these experiments, the permeability, fine particle migration and redistribution under different hydraulic gradients were investigated. The results show that local hydraulic gradient in the sand sample is larger than the critical hydraulic gradient calculated by the Terzaghi's Equation. The seepage force will induce the fine soil particles to migrate along water flow direction and then cause the redistribution and reconsolidation of sand particles. Under the test condition, fine particles (< 0.075 mm) and fine sand particles (0.075-0.25 mm) dominate in the lost soil particles. Soil particles larger than 0.6 mm are hardly to lose.

Abstract

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