Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
The flood plain embankments of the Serchio river have been constructed since the XVIII century and construction details are not known. These embankments have experienced failures several times during their life (last in December 2009). After the last event a detailed geotechnical investigation has been carried out. This paper discusses the necessary criteria for a cost – effective campaign considering the total length of the embankments (30 km) and the requested level of detail. In fact levee failure, although it is of limited extension, causes the achievement of the ultimate limit state of the entire embankment system. The campaign, in addition to laboratory tests, included boreholes, CPTu, permeability tests, 2D geo-electric tomography and 15 tests performed by the use of the continuous core drilling system. This last has proved to be a very useful tool for obtaining the more accurate evaluation of the in situ soil density (as confirmed by CPTu results). CPTu test, economical and expeditious, has proved to be an indispensable tool for delineating soil stratigraphy. In fact, their results combined with the borehole logs and laboratory testing provide extensive information. Geo-electric investigations can be very useful to highlight anomalies and heterogeneities in the cross section. Eventually, it is worthwhile to stress that embankments have generally a height of less than 4 m and a width between 1.2 and 3 m. This has restricted the investigation tools that could be used in this peculiar case.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Cosanti, Barbara; Squeglia, Nunziante; and Lo Presti, Diego C. F., "Geotechnical Characterization of the Flood Plain Embankments of the Serchio River (Tuscany, Italy)" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 48.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session03/48
Geotechnical Characterization of the Flood Plain Embankments of the Serchio River (Tuscany, Italy)
Chicago, Illinois
The flood plain embankments of the Serchio river have been constructed since the XVIII century and construction details are not known. These embankments have experienced failures several times during their life (last in December 2009). After the last event a detailed geotechnical investigation has been carried out. This paper discusses the necessary criteria for a cost – effective campaign considering the total length of the embankments (30 km) and the requested level of detail. In fact levee failure, although it is of limited extension, causes the achievement of the ultimate limit state of the entire embankment system. The campaign, in addition to laboratory tests, included boreholes, CPTu, permeability tests, 2D geo-electric tomography and 15 tests performed by the use of the continuous core drilling system. This last has proved to be a very useful tool for obtaining the more accurate evaluation of the in situ soil density (as confirmed by CPTu results). CPTu test, economical and expeditious, has proved to be an indispensable tool for delineating soil stratigraphy. In fact, their results combined with the borehole logs and laboratory testing provide extensive information. Geo-electric investigations can be very useful to highlight anomalies and heterogeneities in the cross section. Eventually, it is worthwhile to stress that embankments have generally a height of less than 4 m and a width between 1.2 and 3 m. This has restricted the investigation tools that could be used in this peculiar case.
