Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
Following the geotechnical characterization of 30 km long flood - plain embankments of the Serchio River (Tuscany – Italy), a number of numerical analyses have been carried out. The embankments have been constructed since the XVIII century and have experienced several failures in the years (the last in December 2009). The geotechnical characterization of the river embankments and the 2009 flood are described in a companion paper in this Conference. This paper shows the results of numerical analyses that have been carried out for various purposes. More specifically, the numerical analyses were carried out a) to clarify the causes of the December 2009 failures, b) to design appropriate repair of the failures and retrofit of the embankments in proximity of the failures (about 6 km) and c) to identify the most risk areas considering the whole extension of the embankments (30 km). The limit equilibrium method was used to assess the stability of the embankments under steady state flow conditions (areas close to the failures). For this analysis three different types of commercial software were used. The stability analyses were carried out using the Bishop simplified method with circular sliding surfaces. The different codes indicated very similar failure surfaces corresponding to the minimum (meaningful) values of the global safety factor. Some differences on the values of the global safety factor were observed by comparing the results obtained from the three codes. More specifically, the analyses results show that, for the selected cross sections, the safety factors are rather small and approaching to unity, if the seepage forces are not considered. In the case of steady state flow, safety factor drastically reduces becoming lower than one. This result apparently contradicts the fact that the considered embankments are standing up since centuries and failures occurred only in the occasion of floods. The FEM analysis (PLAXIS Flow) shows that the safety margins of the considered sections, in absence of filtration, are assigned to the partial saturation of the embankment. Unfortunately, an appropriate characterization of the material under conditions of partial saturation was not available. Therefore, the FEM analyses were also aimed at determining the necessary time to approach the steady state flow conditions. For the case under consideration it was estimated that 10 days are necessary to approach the steady state flow conditions. This time is apparently much longer than the duration of the longest flood event (few hours). From the above it is possible to conclude that the hypothesis of permanent flow is generally too cautious. Anyway for the failures under consideration, that have occurred with the concurrence of various adverse factors like the melting of the snow because of a sudden temperature increase and the contemporary long raining period (two consecutive floods), it is reasonable to assume that the permanent flow conditions were probably reached. In addition to the numerical analyses, evidences of the considered event and the susceptibility of the analyzed soil to piping phenomena have also been considered to find out all the possible causes and to design in an appropriate way both repair of the failures and retrofitting of the surrounding areas. Assessment of the most risky areas, considering the whole extension of the embankments (30 km), has been carried out following expeditious criteria which were based on the embankment geometry and the mechanical soil characteristics.
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
Squeglia, Nunziante; Cosanti, Barbara; and Lo Presti, Diego C. F., "Stability Analysis of the Serchio River Flood Plain Embankments (Tuscany, Italy)" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 76.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session03/76
Stability Analysis of the Serchio River Flood Plain Embankments (Tuscany, Italy)
Chicago, Illinois
Following the geotechnical characterization of 30 km long flood - plain embankments of the Serchio River (Tuscany – Italy), a number of numerical analyses have been carried out. The embankments have been constructed since the XVIII century and have experienced several failures in the years (the last in December 2009). The geotechnical characterization of the river embankments and the 2009 flood are described in a companion paper in this Conference. This paper shows the results of numerical analyses that have been carried out for various purposes. More specifically, the numerical analyses were carried out a) to clarify the causes of the December 2009 failures, b) to design appropriate repair of the failures and retrofit of the embankments in proximity of the failures (about 6 km) and c) to identify the most risk areas considering the whole extension of the embankments (30 km). The limit equilibrium method was used to assess the stability of the embankments under steady state flow conditions (areas close to the failures). For this analysis three different types of commercial software were used. The stability analyses were carried out using the Bishop simplified method with circular sliding surfaces. The different codes indicated very similar failure surfaces corresponding to the minimum (meaningful) values of the global safety factor. Some differences on the values of the global safety factor were observed by comparing the results obtained from the three codes. More specifically, the analyses results show that, for the selected cross sections, the safety factors are rather small and approaching to unity, if the seepage forces are not considered. In the case of steady state flow, safety factor drastically reduces becoming lower than one. This result apparently contradicts the fact that the considered embankments are standing up since centuries and failures occurred only in the occasion of floods. The FEM analysis (PLAXIS Flow) shows that the safety margins of the considered sections, in absence of filtration, are assigned to the partial saturation of the embankment. Unfortunately, an appropriate characterization of the material under conditions of partial saturation was not available. Therefore, the FEM analyses were also aimed at determining the necessary time to approach the steady state flow conditions. For the case under consideration it was estimated that 10 days are necessary to approach the steady state flow conditions. This time is apparently much longer than the duration of the longest flood event (few hours). From the above it is possible to conclude that the hypothesis of permanent flow is generally too cautious. Anyway for the failures under consideration, that have occurred with the concurrence of various adverse factors like the melting of the snow because of a sudden temperature increase and the contemporary long raining period (two consecutive floods), it is reasonable to assume that the permanent flow conditions were probably reached. In addition to the numerical analyses, evidences of the considered event and the susceptibility of the analyzed soil to piping phenomena have also been considered to find out all the possible causes and to design in an appropriate way both repair of the failures and retrofitting of the surrounding areas. Assessment of the most risky areas, considering the whole extension of the embankments (30 km), has been carried out following expeditious criteria which were based on the embankment geometry and the mechanical soil characteristics.
