Analysis of transient seepage through a river embankment by means of centrifuge modelling

Earthen river embankments are typically in unsaturated conditions during their lifetime and the degree of saturation within their bodies may vary significantly throughout the year, due to seasonal fluctuations of the river stage, as well as infiltrations of meteoric precipitation and evapotranspiration phenomena. Given the significant effects of partial saturation on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of soils, realistic assumptions on the actual water content distribution inside the embankments are essential for properly modelling their response to hydraulic loadings. In this framework, centrifuge modelling is a useful tool to get insights into the evolution of saturation conditions of a water retaining structure during flood events. It allows for the direct observation of the groundwater flow process, which is hardly detectable at the prototype scale, enabling, at the same time, the validation and calibration of predictive numerical tools. In this paper, the results of a centrifuge test carried out on small-scale physical model of a compacted silty clayey sand embankment subjected to a simulated high-water event, at the enhanced gravity of 50-g, are presented and discussed. The physical model was carefully instrumented with potentiometers, miniaturized pore pressure transducers and tensiometers. Pore pressures and suctions measured during the experiment showed that the stationary flow conditions were reached only after an unrealistic hydrometric peak persistence. It therefore emerges that, for the design and/or the assessment of the safety conditions of a river embankment similar to the one tested, the simplified hypothesis of a steady-state seepage, in equilibrium with the maximum river stage expected could result, in many cases, an excessively conservative assumption.