CEG 5405 – Seepage in Soils Paper Review Three 11/23/2022
Determination of Critical Head in Soil Piping (Ojha et al., 2003)
Problem statement
Piping is counted among one of the common failure causes of levees. This phenomenon forms part
of a seepage erosion process that enhances the formation of subsurface channels or tubes that mobilize
soil particles progressively.
The formation of these conducts takes place in the downstream face of the levee where there are
possibly greater hydraulic gradients, starting a so called “backward erosion” sequence, that
eventually could jeopardize the safety of the whole structure
Goal and objectives
Is mentioned in the text that the main target is to determine the value of critical head (height of stored
water for which the factor of safety against downstream erosion is equal to one) that could trigger the
onset of piping.
Another article’s objective is to develop a theoretical basis for the Bligh’s empirical rules, which
consist on a criterium to prevent piping problems according to a series of documented piping failure
cases (Bligh, 1910).
Is also of interest stablish a comparison between the equations created by (Sellmeyer, 1988) and
(Sellmeijer & Koenders, 1991) for the critical head because that model showed to have certain
agreement with (Bligh, 1910).
Methodology, techniques, methods, tools
The proposed methodology consists in developing a critical head model that could relate properly the
flow through porous media, the Bernoulli’s equations and involve a critical tractive stress condition.
The later condition arises when there is flow in a porous media that generates shear stresses and at
some threshold point, the shear stress is large enough to start the transport of particles.
In the same line, another model was created, but this time using a critical velocity. If this limiting
velocity mark is exceeded, the particle movement is going to occur. This model could also be used to
determine the critical head.
Main results
In order to define if the model behaves properly, a comparison was made against the observations of
Weijers and Sellmeijer (1993) that relates pairs of critical head values and porosities.
According to the authors, the obtained data allows to stablish that the developed model is able to
accommodate different porosities levels.
Conclusions
The article reached the main proposed objective, of providing a theoretical basis for the (Bligh, 1910)
empirical rules, that are based on multiple case histories of piping failures. Also, is highlighted that
the functional form of the model agrees with the available data that corelates the critical head Vs
porosity values.
Additional Comments
Some remaining aspects that were not possible to cover in the present study are mentioned, which
include: the evaluation of the depth of the underlying formation, the effect of the slid and the variation
of the sensitivity with c (Ojha et al., 2003). Also, future work is proposed about further scale the
applicability of the model, including other ranges than laminar flow.
Equally the article points out that the model parameters and the calibration coefficient were not
possible to relate due to lack of statistically significant data for different soil types.
References
Bligh, W. G. (1910). Dams, barrages and weirs on porous foundations. Eng. News, 64Dec.!, 708.
Ojha, C. S. P., Singh, V. P., & Adrian, D. D. (2003). Determination of Critical Head in Soil Piping.
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 129(7), 511–518. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-
9429(2003)129:7(511)
Sellmeijer, J. B., & Koenders, M. A. (1991). A mathematical model for piping. Applied Mathematical
Modelling, 15(11–12), 646–651. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0307-904X(09)81011-1
Sellmeyer, J. B. (1988). ON THE MECHANISM OF PIPING UNDER IMPERVIOUS STRUCTURES.
