Overview geotechnical model tests on dike safety at Deltares

Three on-going dike safety studies (on: macro stability, piping and flow slides) in the Netherlands make use of geotechnical physical models. A short outline of these projects is presented; the physical models chosen are described and discussed. The three studies use different physical models, depending on the research questions at the beginning...

Bench-scale centrifuge testing to determine the hydraulic conductivity of clayey soils

The purpose of this research is to validate a mathematical model for flow through saturated and unsaturated porous media using a bench-scale centrifuge for an accurate determination of the hydraulic conductivity (function of the saturation degree of a soil) within a limited time at a reasonable price. The aim of this paper is to show preliminary...

Piping in loose sands – the importance of geometrical fixity of grains

Piping is one of the possible failure mechanism for dams and levees with a sandy foundation. Water flowing through the foundation causes the onset of grain transport, due to which shallow pipes are formed at the interface of the sandy layer and an impermeable blanket layer. In the past, the mechanism has been investigated predominantly in...

Model experiments on geosynthetic reinforced piled embankments, 3D test series

In the Netherlands, several field measurements were carried out in piled embankments with a geosynthetic basal reinforcement (GR). This paper presents a series of nineteen 3D model experiments on piled embankments. Purpose of the tests was to find an explanation why the calculated GR strains exceed the GR strains measured in the field. This...