Date of Award

12-2013

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

John Rice

Committee

John Rice

Committee

James A. Bay

Committee

Gilberto Urroz

Abstract

Piping is a form of internal erosion in which soil particles are eroded at a seepage exit location due to the forces imposed on the particles by seeping water. Laboratory testing was performed on a variety of soils in order to assess a correlation between unit weight, angle of internal friction, grain size, gradation, and void ratio and the critical hydraulic gradient at which piping initiates and progresses. A multi-variable regression analysis was used to form equations to predict critical hydraulic gradient based upon each of these soil parameters. Variations in the accuracy of these equations are thought to be due to the interlocking behavior of the angular soils tested compared to that of the more spherical soils as well as the loosening of the sample and change in void ratio as piping progresses.

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