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Evaluation of I-wall in New Orleans with back-calculated total stress soil parameters

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Abstract

This study back-calculated moduli and shear strength of soils in London Canal Ave., New Orleans, using full-scale load test data, and re-evaluated the behavior of the I-wall to explore how the existing levees and floodwalls may be reliably retrofitted and future levees and floodwalls may be designed. From the back-calculation, it turned out that the moduli of the field soils were mostly higher (1–12 times) than magnitudes appeared in Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET). But the shear strength of a water-glazed Marsh layer in the gap turned out to be substantially lower (0.2–0.25 times) than the magnitude appeared in IPET. This much strength reduction was confirmed by field vane shear tests: tests with artificial water infiltration into the field vane hole presented immeasurably low disturbed strength and resulted in very high sensitivity that might contributed to the failure. This study also shows that the gap development and strength reduction in the water-glazed Marsh layer are two main causes of levee failure, which have been predicted in previous research. The stiffer-than-expected moduli of underlain layers did not affect the failure mechanism of the levee substantially because these underlain layers remained elastic. Therefore, retrofitting solutions should be the ones that may prevent the gap development and to reinforce the Marsh layer.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the funding received under a subcontract from the Department of Homeland Security-sponsored Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI) at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Grant No.: 70023). The preparation of this manuscript is also partly funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant (MEST: No. 2011-0030842).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fugro Geoconsulting, Inc., 6100 Hillcroft, Houston, TX, 77081, USA

    Sudarshan Adhikari

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, Carrier 207A, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Chung R. Song

  3. School of Engineering, University of Mississippi, Brevard 229, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Alexander H.-D. Cheng

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  1. Sudarshan Adhikari
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  2. Chung R. Song
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  3. Alexander H.-D. Cheng
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Correspondence to Chung R. Song.

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Adhikari, S., Song, C.R. & Cheng, A.HD. Evaluation of I-wall in New Orleans with back-calculated total stress soil parameters. Acta Geotech. 9, 1123–1134 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-013-0264-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-013-0264-1

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