Abstract

FLORES BERENGUER, ISAIDA; GARCIA TRISTA, JENNY  and  HARAMBOURE, YOERMES GONZÁLEZ. Stability of slopes during a rapid drawdown in earth dams with partially saturated soils. Ing. Desarro. [online]. 2020, vol.38, n.1, pp.13-31.  Epub May 28, 2021. ISSN 0122-3461.  https://doi.org/10.14482/inde.38.1.624.15.

The Mechanics of Partially Saturated Soils, allows the analysis of the stability of slopes with the incorporation of variables not considered until now, from which, the phenomena of loss of stability can be seen from a new perspective. In the present investigation, the stability analysis of the slope upstream was made in a homogeneous earth dam, without berm, 22 meters of curtain height during the occurrence of a rapid drawdown product to a drought period of 90 days, considering the floor of the curtain under saturated and partially saturated conditions. For the computational model, the SEEP / W and SLOPE / W tools of the GeoStudio 2012 program are used, in which three cases with different clayey soils in the curtain are considered, including the characteristic curve of the same, a sandy foundation and a prism of drainage conformed by a high permeability gravel. The behavior of the safety factor in the upstream slope was analyzed, as the water level of the dam decreased and the influence of the laws of soil mechanics partially saturated in the occurrence of this phenomenon. There were no decreases in the safety factor that would jeopardize the stability of the structure. In addition, the drying branch of the characteristic curve is more appropriate to describe the process that occurs in the slope during the drought.

Keywords : characteristic curve; partially saturated soils; rapid dewatering; slope stability; suction.

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