Abstract
The paper analyzes the groundwater regime in the embankment foundation of the artificial Gorzone channel located in the Po Plain near Venice, North Italy, under the conditions imposed by the hydraulic regime of the Gorzone itself and the nearby Adige river. Sand boils and blow-outs phenomena occur both at and beyond the levee toe, as the dam located some kilometers downstream is activated to keep the channel water level high for irrigation purposes in spring and summer. In order to design proper interventions, the seepage under the embankment has been investigated and the groundwater regime has been monitored for 2 years. The acquired data revealed that pore pressure regime in the deeper layers is not completely consistent with the Gorzone water level variations; it seems influenced also by the hydraulic regime of the nearby Adige river, that here flows parallel to Gorzone, at the distance of 180 m from the opposite levee.
The paper presents the results of some FEM analysis carried out to better investigate the groundwater regime under the influence of Adige and other local forcings. After a calibration based on the acquired pressure data, the model was used to analyze the levee seepage regime under different boundary conditions. The numerical results highlight that the sand-boils and blow outs are probably caused by a seepage confined in the upper high-permeability deposit induced by Gorzone water level, while the deeper pore pressures are mainly related to the Adige hydraulic conditions and to the activity of some extracting wells in the area.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bersan, S., Koelewijn, A.R., Simonini, P.: Effectiveness of distributed temperature measurements for early detection of piping in river embankments. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 22, 1491–1508 (2018). https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1491-2018
Bossi, G., et al.: Multidisciplinary analysis and modelling of a river embankment affected by piping. In: Bonelli, S., Jommi, C., Sterpi, D. (eds.) Internal Erosion in Earthdams, Dikes and Levees: Proceedings of EWG‐IE 26th Annual Meeting 2018, pp. 234–244. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99423-9_22
Schenato, L.: A review of distributed fibre optic sensors for geo-hydrological applications. Appl. Sci. 7, 1–42 (2017)
Cola, S., Girardi, V., Bersan, S., Simonini, P., Schenato, L., De Polo, F.: An optical fiber-based monitoring system to study the seepage flow below the landside toe of a river levee. J. Civ. Struct. Heal. Monit. 11(3), 691–705 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13349-021-00475-y
Fabbian, N., et al.: Innovative and traditional monitoring system for characterizing the seepage inside river embankments along the Adige River in Salorno (Italy). ISFMG, London (2022)
Dalla Santa, G., Fabbian, N., Schenato, L., Tedesco, G., Cola, S.: Misure di temperatura con fibra ottica e sensori tradizionali per modellare il regime di filtrazione arginale: il caso studio del fiume Gorzone. Incontro Annuale dei Ricercatori di Geotecnica (IARG) (2021)
Dalla Santa, G., Pasquier, P., Schenato, L., Galgaro, A.: Repeated ETRTs in a complex stratified geological setting: high-resolution thermal conductivity identification by multiple linear regression. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 148(4), 04022007 (2022)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dalla Santa, G., Fabbian, N., Cola, S. (2023). Investigating the Effects of Water Levels Measured in Two Nearby Rivers on Groundwater Pore Pressures Regime. In: Ferrari, A., Rosone, M., Ziccarelli, M., Gottardi, G. (eds) Geotechnical Engineering in the Digital and Technological Innovation Era. CNRIG 2023. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34761-0_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34761-0_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-34760-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-34761-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)