Lecture Earthworks

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Types of earthworks Excavation & compaction materials Design of cuttings & embankments Specification of embankment fill materials Example: Vajont Dam disaster

Types of earthworks
Cuttings Road and railway cuts Foundation excavations 2. Embankments Constructed of engineered fill: road and rail embankments & rock and earth fill dams Non-engineered fills: loose tipped waste dumps; e.g. landfill
1.

When these structures fail?

Failing road cuttings; debris/rock falls

Failing road cuttings within road foundation material

CARSINGTON DAM an earth embankment in Derbyshire. This failed in 1984 during construction long before the reservoir was even filled. (1) A slip surface developed through both the boot-shaped weak clay core and a layer of periglacial head left on the shale bedrock beneath the placed and compacted fill. (2) The head was wrongly interpreted as in situ weathered shale, and the design assumed an undisturbed angle of friction of = 20. Due to its origin the material contained shear surfaces with a residual angle of friction r = 12. This mistake and the rebuild cost 20 million at 1985 prices and the subsequent litigation led to the company responsible being taken over. (3) Incident could have been avoided: Periglacial head with shear surfaces at residual strength is widespread on the shale of Derbyshire, therefore decent applied geoscience investigations would have identified this as a potential problem

(1)

(2)

(3)

At 11:57 A.M. on June 1, 1976, in the Teton Canyon of Fremont County, the collapse of an earth dam sent a wall of water toward Idaho Falls. The subsequent flood killed 14 people and caused at least $1 billion in property damage. Ripping though Wilford, Sugar City, Salem, Hibbard, and Rexburg. It destroyed 13,000 head of livestock, 3,500 farm buildings, and 4,000 homes. The federal government paid more than $300 million to settle more than 7,500 claims.

Concrete Dam: St Francis Dam, California 1928; 500 people killed. Court of Inquiry blamed a palaeomegaslide under the east abutment was undetected

Scarp

Excavation/cutting design

Removal of material without hazard requires characterisation of rocks and soils involved; Stability of cut slopes is critical factor in cutting design, affected by: Strength, frequency & orientation of rock discontinuities such as joints and fracture sets Water table level (affects effective strength of slope material) Changes in subsurface stress regime in response to removal of overburden act to reduce cutting stability

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Excavation/cutting design
Different materials more able to resist shearing forces than others. Ideal slope material has: High shear strength, few discontinuities & low pore water pressures (support steeper slope) Results in a range of slope angles: 1. Massive igneous rocks and some metamorphic rocks can support near vertical cuttings 2. Vertical slopes in horizontally bedded limestones common (80-90) 3. Weak & fissile shales support slopes 45-70 4. SOILS: 10-40 (text book, Bell)

Cuttings: groundwater
Short-term and long-term cutting stability
1. Excavation causes pore pressures to drop considerably - Response to fall in total stress - Materials expand - FoS lowers sharply 3. 2. Pore pressures redistribute in response to overburden removal

1. Pore pressure, P

2.

Factor of Safety, F

3. Groundwater returns to steady state seepage flow

- Long term reduction in FoS

Excavation Considerations
1. Short & long term slope stability 2. Reactivation of relict structures 3. Construction methods (next few slides) 4. Groundwater regime during and after construction 5. Heave (uplift) at base of excavation 6. Risk of collapse (tunnels)

Which Excavation Method?

(Pettifer and Fookes 1994) NB point load index is a portable field test of rock strength and is approximately equal to UCS/20 Fracture spacing increase

BLASTING

RIPPING DIGGING

Point load machine

Rock strength increase

Soils and soft rocks: excavator and scraper

Digging methods Digging method as a function of material seismic velocity (Bell, 2007) Can dig through materials with low seismic velocities JCB.CO.UK JCB JS 360 Excavator

Soils and soft rocks: excavator and scraper

Cutting surface in weak rocks

Soft to medium strong rocks: ripper plus scraper

CAT D-9 Tractor with ripper attachment
Objective: break up the rock just enough to allow its loading and transport Rock rippability: depends on: Intact strength, fracture index and abrasiveness of rocks Rippability a function of seismic velocity

(Bell 2007)

Medium strong to strong rocks require blasting

Diggers remove the blast debris

Rock cut blasting

Medium strong to strong rocks require blasting

Blast stem lines

Medium strong to strong rocks require blasting

Delay time between blasts a function of burden, B

To obtain a stable angle in a rock face use pre-split blasting

Subdrilling to depth B/3

Medium strong to strong rocks require blasting

How much dynamite to use?

Embankment Design

1.

Embankments built up of laying and compacting layers of soil Engineering properties of embankment fill affected by amount of compaction
Compaction; expulsion of air at ~constant MC increases water saturation and dry density

Amount of compaction depends on the optimum design performance of structure Degree of compaction necessary dictates: Compaction equipment used (rolls, tamps or vibrates) Soil type (granular; natural MC, cohesive; optimum MC) Quantity of material needed Layer thickness geometry of proposed earthworks

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Embankments: groundwater
Short term and long term stability of embankments
1. Building embankment causes pore pressures rise - Response to increase in total stress - Materials contract - FoS lowers as overburden supported by pore water 2. Pore pressures redistribute until equal with original regime - FoS rise 3. Groundwater returns to steady state seepage flow - FoS rises leading to long-term stability

Pore pressure, P

1.

2.

3.

Factor of Safety, F

Embankment Considerations
1. Interaction with existing features (relict landslides, cavities) 2. Influence of loading greater than normal foundations (piles, rafts) 3. Settlement and lateral movements; phase project to minimise 4. Locally sourced fill material (project costs lower)

Engineered Fill Material

Embankment built up of many 0.3 m lifts placed by scraper (tight guidelines on construction procedure) The material is then compacted after each lift Proper placement and compaction ensures maximum strength is obtained and settlement minimised Embankment material is identified based on its compaction qualities; related to: dry density/moisture content relationship but also undrained shear strength, consolidation characteristics Embankments often contain layers of free-draining sandy material to ensure settlement and pressure dissipation occurs rapidly Embankment design factor of safety: 1.5 (cover in prac.)

Laboratory Compaction Proctor test

Laboratory determination of material compaction properties: 1. Build up three layers of sample 2. 25 blows per layer to compact 3. Measure dry density, MC and air volume 4. Repeat

Laboratory Compaction Proctor test

Most desirable degree of compaction achieved at:
Increased compaction

highest dry density which occurs at an optimum moisture content and a high shear strength

Too much compaction: 1. Samples crack/fissure 2. Moisture content rises 3. Reduces soil strength
In field: measure MC to determine compaction

Field Compaction

(Bell, 2007)

Grid roller

The Vajont Dam disaster, Italy 1963 Worlds worst civil engineering disaster Deaths: 2043

Concrete dam completed in 1960

1963: 270M m3 of rock forming a slab 200m thick moved 400 m at 20-30 m/s. The sliding block landed in the reservoir creating a 100m high flood wave that overtopped the dam

Daves Landslide Blog: http://www.landslideblog.org/2008/12/vai ont-vajont-landslide-of-1963.html

Map of area

(Waltham, 2009)

~1 km
Monte Toc

Back scarp

Sliding block

~1 km

Dam

50 m
Structure within slumped mass

~1 km Village of Casso

(Waltham, 2009)

Cross section through gorge before landslide

Geology: Downslope-dipping dolomitic limestones interbedded with thin plastic clay horizons 1963 main failure occurred along a reactivated clay horizon; ancient slip surface; also minor 1960 rock slide Sharp rise in groundwater level when reservoir filled

Trigger Mechanisms
1. Minor landslide activated in Feb 1960 during first reservoir filling event (impoundment) 2. October 1960: reservoir filled; leading to high displacement rates - Reservoir lowered; displacement much reduced 1. 3. November 1963: reservoir filled and high rainfall lead to catastrophic failure of rock slump block 2. 3.

4.

Trigger Mechanisms
Increasing the level of the reservoir drove up pore water pressures within the clay interbeds, reducing shear resistance (strength) NB: importance of understanding water within a landslide system!!
4.

Key Outcome: Understanding of ground conditions imperative if earthworks are to be successfully constructed

Summary
Earthworks involves: design of stable slopes; excavation of material; placement of fill In the UK Earthworks construction is carried out according to BS6031 and Eurocode 7 Minimise failure by understanding the effect of earthworks on the site

Earth Dam during construction:

Earth Dam during construction: Dam wall