The failure mode for levees includes: excessive settlement, foundation failure, seepagedue to cracking or piping and surface erosion. Cracks in levees induce excessive seepagerates across the section which results in failure of the levee during flooding periods. Thecurrent analysis for cracks or suction prediction is done using climatic variation for agiven region. The climatic variation as an input makes the suction evaluation generalizedand erases the local effect of soil conditions and overestimates the suction values. Itestimates the suction in the absence of a water table. When a water table is present within10 m of the surface, it becomes necessary to have the local reading of moisture contentclose to the site for predicting the suction values which are unique to the specific siteconditions.In this research, a two phase approach is taken. First the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)is used to measure the overall moisture variation along the levee to locate the possiblecrack zones. This will help in predicting cracks induced by the site specific suctionvalues. After the critical sites have been identified they will be instrumented usingmoisture content sensor, tensiometers and tilt meter as a long term monitoring systems.This method will result in accurate estimation of impeding failure. This approach willalso help in early warning systems by giving a realistic estimate of the health of the levee.The current work will help in reducing cost of inspection and maintenance, and will helpto save valuable lives and resources.
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