Insight into the Permeability and Microstructure Evolution Mechanism of the Sliding Zone Soil: A Case Study from the Huangtupo Landslide, Three Gorges Reservoir, China
Qianyun Wang, Huiming Tang, Pengju An, Kun Fang, Junrong Zhang, Minghao Miao, Qingwen Tan, Lei Huang, Shengming Hu
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
A large number of laboratory investigations related to the permeability have been conducted on the sliding zones. Yet little attention has been paid to the particular sliding zones of the slide-prone Badong Formation. Here, we experimentally investigate the permeability nature and the mechanism of seepage in the viscous sliding zone of the Huangtupo Landslide. Saturated seepage tests have been performed first with consideration of six dry densities and thirteen hydraulic gradients, in conjunction with the mercury intrusion porosimetry test and scanning electron microscopy test for the microstructure analysis after seepage. The results show that seepage in the sliding zone soil does not follow Darcy’s Law, since there is a threshold hydraulic gradient (i0) below which no flow is observed and a critical hydraulic gradient (icr) over which the hydraulic conductivity (K) tends to be stable. The percentage of bound water could be responsible for the occurrence of i0 and icr. Furthermore, pore size distributions (PSD) less than 0.6 µm and between 10 and 90 µm exhibit positive and negative correlations with the i0, respectively, indicating that the i0 is related to the PSD. The mechanism accounting for this result is that pore water pressure forces fine clay particles into the surrounding large pores and converts arranged particles to discretely distributed ones, thereby weakening the connectivity of pores. The seepages in the sliding zones behave differently from that in the sliding mass and sliding bed in response to the permeability.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Earth Science (previously known as Journal of China University of Geosciences), issued bimonthly through China University of Geosciences, covers all branches of geology and related technology in the exploration and utilization of earth resources. Founded in 1990 as the Journal of China University of Geosciences, this publication is expanding its breadth of coverage to an international scope. Coverage includes such topics as geology, petrology, mineralogy, ore deposit geology, tectonics, paleontology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry, geophysics and environmental sciences.
Articles published in recent issues include Tectonics in the Northwestern West Philippine Basin; Creep Damage Characteristics of Soft Rock under Disturbance Loads; Simplicial Indicator Kriging; Tephra Discovered in High Resolution Peat Sediment and Its Indication to Climatic Event.
The journal offers discussion of new theories, methods and discoveries; reports on recent achievements in the geosciences; and timely reviews of selected subjects.