Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
01 May 2013, 5:15 pm - 6:45 pm
Abstract
Field observation and monitoring earth structures is vital to design the structure safely and efficiently. Among different types of instruments, earth pressure cells (EPCs) are used to measure soil pressure in embankment dams, which are not proved to be entirely satisfactory. Presence of cells and installation methods usually affect the accuracy of total stress measurements. Since earth pressure cells are prone to damage by large and sharp stones or by using heavy compaction rollers, one excavates a trench and place EPC within fine grained soil which is compacted with light-weight machines. This nonconformity results in local arching between the installation trench and surrounding fill that transmits stress from flexible zone (installation trench) to surrounding fill. As a result the measured soil stress is less than real one. Moreover, pressure cell underestimates the stress in non homogeneous dams for the reason that transversal arching occurs between the core and shell. In this study numerical analyses were conducted to evaluate the contribution of local and transversal arching in stress underestimation and to further clarify the arching trend in the dam height. According to the obtained results, it is possible to calibrate the registered total stress during construction procedure in an earthfill dam.
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
Elmi, Dorsa and Mirghasemi, Ali Asghar, "Effects of Arching on Measurement of Embedded Pressure Cell in Embankment Dam" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 12.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session_07/12
Effects of Arching on Measurement of Embedded Pressure Cell in Embankment Dam
Chicago, Illinois
Field observation and monitoring earth structures is vital to design the structure safely and efficiently. Among different types of instruments, earth pressure cells (EPCs) are used to measure soil pressure in embankment dams, which are not proved to be entirely satisfactory. Presence of cells and installation methods usually affect the accuracy of total stress measurements. Since earth pressure cells are prone to damage by large and sharp stones or by using heavy compaction rollers, one excavates a trench and place EPC within fine grained soil which is compacted with light-weight machines. This nonconformity results in local arching between the installation trench and surrounding fill that transmits stress from flexible zone (installation trench) to surrounding fill. As a result the measured soil stress is less than real one. Moreover, pressure cell underestimates the stress in non homogeneous dams for the reason that transversal arching occurs between the core and shell. In this study numerical analyses were conducted to evaluate the contribution of local and transversal arching in stress underestimation and to further clarify the arching trend in the dam height. According to the obtained results, it is possible to calibrate the registered total stress during construction procedure in an earthfill dam.
