Centrifugal Modelling of Soil Structures. Part I. Centrifugal Modelling of Slope Failures

摘要

This research investigated slope failure in two prototype soil materials using the technique of reduced scale centrifugal modelling. In nineteen coal mine waste embankment dam models, throughout which the soil particle size distribution was altered for modelling of different prototype soil conditions, three classes of failure were observed: intact slope failure in response to throughflow conditions, failure by erosion, and retrogressive rate of construction failure. The importance of particle size distribution, of embankment preparation by compaction in lifts, of a clay foundation layer, and of the inclusion of highly permeable sections in the embankment, both drained and undrained, were all studied in the course of experiments. Conventional methods of prediction of slope stability and erosion were applied to the models. The scaling laws for centrifugal modelling of water movement were examined, and the requirements for reduced scale modelling of seepage and erosion were found to be mutually incompatible.