Relationship between compaction and suction in earth dams with CH type soils

Abstract

The construction of earth dams has placed the stability of slopes in a plane of engineering importance of the first order, both for the economic aspect and for the undesirable consequences due to their failures. The objective of this research is to perform an analysis to  define the dependence of the hydraulic conductivity curve on the degree of soil compaction. The case study is a 22 m high earth dam with a drainage prism, considering the principles of partially saturated soil mechanics for the final stages of construction and operation of the same, with three floors in the curtain of type CH and three sandy soils in the foundation. The SIGMA/W, SEEP/W and SLOPE/W tools of the GeoStudio 2012 program are used for the execution of the models. The main results obtained show that the variation in stability increases when the degree of compaction and the corresponding suction oscillate between 80 and 95% of the Standard Proctor test, for which it is concluded that it is more effective to use characteristic curves obtained for compaction degrees equal to or greater than 95%.