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Numerical analysis of influence factors and control measures for differential settlement of gully land creation

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Abstract

The gully land creation in the Loess Plateau has aroused widespread concern, but differential settlement of reclamation land seriously affects normal use of it. In order to clarify the differential settlement characteristics, numerical model of gully land creation is established to investigate different influencing factors by finite element method, and sensitivity analyses are performed by introducing the sensitivity coefficient. The numerical calculations show that the settlement curve is parabolic in which the excavation section rebounds and the fill section subsides. The settlement and settlement gradient are positively linearly correlated with the fill height, filling velocity, and water level difference; they are negatively linearly correlated with the number of filling layers. The maximum settlement of the V-shaped gully is smaller than that of the U-shaped gully, but the settlement gradient is the opposite. By the sensitivity analysis, the influence degree of four factors to settlement gradient was filling height at first, then filling layers, filling velocity, and groundwater level difference. To decrease the differential settlement, it is suggested that the open and gentle gullies should be selected in the design phase, the fill and excavation heights should be reduced as much as possible. Moreover, more layers and a slower filling rate can reduce the differential settlement of gully land creation. Overall, the numerical results offer some valuable references to improve the design and construction of gully land creation on the Loess Plateau.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Special Topics of National Key R & D Projects of China (No. 2017YFC0504703-02); Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi, China (No. 2020JQ-278); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No. 2452019062); and Postdoctoral Research Funding Project of Shaanxi, China (No. 2018BSHEDZZ23).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Wei Hao, Henghui Fan, Yasheng Luo & Xiujuan Yang

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  1. Wei Hao
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  2. Henghui Fan
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  3. Yasheng Luo
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  4. Xiujuan Yang
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Correspondence to Wei Hao.

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Hao, W., Fan, H., Luo, Y. et al. Numerical analysis of influence factors and control measures for differential settlement of gully land creation. Bull Eng Geol Environ 81, 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02496-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02496-9

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