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Size distribution of free particles in soils: a geometric modelling approach

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Abstract

Suffusion is a typical form of internal erosion for gravel soils in which fine particles are detached by seepage and transport by water through pores. The prediction of erodible particles can improve the assessment of the development of suffusion. The current research on the composition of erodible particles is not sufficiently detailed. The content of erodible particles cannot be accurately determined for a particular gradation. In this paper, a geometric method of generating a particle packing model is proposed. The particles are classified as free or skeleton particles depending on their coordination numbers; thus, their particle size distributions are obtained. Soils with different gradations were analysed using the proposed method. The results indicated that if the grading curve of a soil can be expressed using a fractal relationship, the gradation of free particles also satisfies an exponential function. This is useful in promoting the research on establishing accurate internal erosion criteria, evaluating the performance of filter layers, and predicting the degree of seepage failure caused by internal erosion.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Dam Safety Research Centre of China (Grant No. CX2019B08) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51479112).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Jinfeng Bi & Xianqi Luo

  2. School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Haitao Zhang & Zhuomin Li

  3. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Urban Construction, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, 332005, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Shen

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  1. Jinfeng Bi
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  3. Xianqi Luo
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  5. Zhuomin Li
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Correspondence to Haitao Zhang.

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Bi, J., Zhang, H., Luo, X. et al. Size distribution of free particles in soils: a geometric modelling approach. Acta Geotech. 16, 3849–3866 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01356-w

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