KevinS.Richards,Ph.D.

FederalEnergyRegulatoryCommission
Prof.KrishnaR.Reddy
CivilandMaterialsEngineering
UniversityofIllinois,Chicago
September24,2009

PresentationOutline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Introduction
Definitions
StatisticsofPipingFailures
EarlyWork
DispersiveSoils
AdvancesinFilterDesign/InternalStability
RecentWork
Conclusions
OngoingWork

1.INTRODUCTION
Historyofpipingfailuresresultedinprogressively
morecomplexdesigns
Pipingoccursinthreestages;
Initiation
Continuation
Progression
Thereareanumberofdifferentmodesofpiping

2.DEFINITIONS
BackwardsErosionPiping
InternalErosion
biologicallyornaturallyinduced
withinembankmentorfoundation
Tunneling/Jugging
Suffosion
Heave

PipingProcess
(BackwardsErosion)

Unfiltered
Exit

PipingProcess
(InternalErosion)

Conduit

Gate
Well

Unfiltered
Exit

PipingProcess
(Tunneling/Jugging)

PipingProcess
(Suffosion)

Unfiltered
Exit

PipingProcess
(Heave)

LeveeFill(Clay)
SiltRiverDeposits

SandandGravelRiver
Deposits
(highporepressures)

3.STATISTICSOFPIPING
FAILURES
46%ofalldamfailuresareduetopiping1
Basedondetailedanalysis2
Foundationrelatedfailures(15.0%)
InternalErosion(49.8%)
BackwardsErosion,Suffosion(31.1%)
BiologicalActivity(4.1%)
1Foster,Fell,andSpangle,2000
2RichardsandReddy,2007(267casehistories)

4.EARLYWORK
VonRichthofen,1886 Coinedpiping,Loess,Landforms
Col.Clibborn,1895 L/H,1898failureofNaroraDam
Forchheimer,1900 Flownets
Bligh,1910 CreepMethod,Designofspillways,L=cH
Lane,1934 WeightedCreepMethod,Designofspillways,
Ln=1/3LHoriz.+Lvert.
Terzaghi,1922,1939,1948 Theoryofheave,soilfilters,
factorofsafetyforpiping(byheave)
Casagrande,1937 Exitgradientsw/flownets
Bertram,1939 Filterexperiments

ImportantFindingsFromEarly
Work
L/HClibborn,1895;importanceofhydraulicgradient
L=cHBligh,1910;L=requiredsafeflowlength,c=
percolationfactor,variesfrom18(finesiltandsand)to
4(bouldersgravelsand),H=hydrostatichead
Ln=cHLane,1934;Ln=requiredsafeflowlengthbased
onweightedlengths,c=percolationfactor,variesfrom
8.5(veryfinesandorsilt)to1.6(hardclay),H=
hydrostatichead
D15/d85<4;D15/d15>4Terzaghi,1939

ImportantFindingsfromEarly
Work
Gs=(W/Ue)(Terzaghi,1943;Gsisthefactorofsafety
againstpipingbyheave,W istheeffectiveweightof
mostcriticalsandprism,Ue istheupliftpressureat
thebaseofthesandprism
mostpipingfailuresoccurathydraulicheadhc much
smallerthantheheadhc computedonthebasisof
theory Terzaghi&Peck(1948)

5.DISPERSIVESOILS
Aitchison,1960Pipinginvolvesdispersionofclays
Ritchie,1963DispersionIndexMethod
1964AustralianSymposiumtoDiscussFailureof
SmallDams
Sherard,etal.,1972PrecursortotheDouble
HydrometerTest
RileyandArulanandan,1972 RotatingCylinderTest
Sherard,1976PinholeTest
79th AnnualASTMMeeting,1977(ASTMSpecial
TechnicalPublicationNo.623)

6.ADVANCESINFILTER
DESIGN/INTERNALSTABILITY
Filters
BourdeauxandImaizumi,1977Conventionalfilter
criteriawillcontrolleaksthroughdispersiveclay
SherardandDunnigan,1984,1989 Noerosionfilter
designconsideringbasesoilcharacteristics
InternalStability
Kezdi,1979 Internalstability,Suffosion
SkemptonandBrogan,1994 Horizontalversusvertical
tests;criticalhydraulicgradientofunstablesoils,
reductionfactorforconfiningstress

OtherAdvances
Terzaghi,etal.,1996

Mostofthepipingfailuresonrecordhavebeencaused
bysubsurfaceerosioninvolvingtheprogressive
removalofmaterialsthroughsprings;thiscondition
invalidatesthetheoryofpipingbyheave.Thefactor
ofsafetywithrespecttopipingbysubsurfaceerosion
cannotbeevaluatedbyanypracticablemeans.

ImportantFindings

LimitationsoftheTheoryofHeave
RoleofDispersiveSoils
EvaluationofInternallyUnstableSoils
LimitationsinSoilFilterDesign/SoilClogging

7.RECENTWORK
TomlinsonandVaid,2000UniaxialstressvsCritical
Gradient.
Briaud,Ting,Chen,Cao,Han,andKwak,2001Erosion
FunctionApparatus
WanandFell,2002HoleErosionandSlotErosionTest
Fell,WanandCyganiewics,andFoster2003;Annandale,
MurthyandBeckwith,2004Timeofpipedevelopment
McCook,2004 Geneticcharacteristicsofpiping,
importanceofdamconduitfailures
ReddiandKakuturu,2006;Bonala,1997;Reddi,Mingand
Hajra,2000 Particletransportandfilterclogging

ImportantAspectsofRecentWork

Importanceofdifferentpipingfailuremodes
Predictionsofpipingbreachtiming
Predictionofcloggingoffilters
Riskbasedassessmentofpipingfailure

8.CONCLUSIONS
Nosatisfactorymethodforcalculatingafactorof
safetyforbackwardserosionpiping
Constitutiveaspectsofpipingareunknown
Influenceofseepageorientationhasnotbeen
quantitativelystudied
Nolaboratorymethodsfortheevaluationofpipingin
noncohesivematerials
Roleofvarioustypesoffinesisunknown

9.ONGOINGWORK
ICODS EvaluationofPipingGuidelines
ICODS FilterGuidelines
Laboratoryinstrumentationforbetterevaluationof
backwardserosionandSuffosionpotential

RichardsandReddy,DevelopmentofTrueTriaxialApparatusfor
DeterminingPipingPotentialinEarthStructures(submittedfor
publication)

Assessmentofcriticalfactorsinfluencingpiping

RichardsandReddy,ExperimentsinBackwardsErosionPiping
(submittedforpublication)

Newmethodforevaluationofbackwardserosion
pipingpotential

RichardsandReddy,NewMethodforEvaluationofBackwardsErosion
Piping (underdevelopment)

Questions?

Reference Paper - Richards, K.S. and Reddy, K.R., 2007, Critical appraisal of piping phenomena
in earth dams, Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ., 66:381-402