Seepage Workshop

Seepage Induced Geotechnical Instability

‌‌Workshop exploring recent developments considering seepage and instability in cohesionless soil

Imperial College London, UK:  31^st Aug – 1^st Sept 2017

This workshop was run in conjunction with the ISSMGE Technical Committees: TC 105 Geo-Mechanics from Micro to Macro, TC 201 Dikes and Levees, TC 213 Scour and Erosion.  The workshop launched the EPSRC funded research project: Particle-scale invesitagion of go  Delegates included academics, civil engineering consultants and representatives from some UK dam owners.  To give a flavour of the workshop the schedule is given below.  Where possible, the schedule includes links to the presentation slides.

Thursday Aug 31^st:  Session 1:  Industrial Perspective

Chair: Dr. Martin Preene  (Preene Groundwater Consulting)

Rob Gilbert (ARUP): “Recent experience and issues with embankment dams” R. Gilbert Presentation

Dr. Toby Roberts (WJ Groundwater): “Lucky Escapes”: T. Roberts Presentation

Dr. Chris Menkiti (GCG): “Case histories of seepage dominated instabilities in soils and soft rocks”

Thursday Aug 31^st:  Session 2:  Recent Design Guidance

Chair: Dr. Martin Preene  (Preene Groundwater Consulting)

 Dr. Brian Simpson (ARUP / EC7): “UPL and HYD in EC7”: B. Simpson Presentation

Dr. Philip Smith (Royal Haskoning DHV/ International Levee Handbook): “Seepage Induced Geotechnical Instability of Flood Embankments”: P. Smith Presentation

Dr. –Ing. Bernhard Odenwald (BAW):  “The BAW codes of practice to ensure the bank stability  of German inland waterways”: ‌B. Odenwald Presentation

Mr. Rod Bridle (ICOLD Bulletin 164): “ICOLD Bulletin 164 on Internal Erosion”: R. Bridle Presentation

Friday Sept 1^st:  Session 3:  Experimental Research

Chair: Mr. Rod Bridle

Prof. Jonathan Fannin (Univ. British Columbia) “Permeameter testing – the UBC perspective on progress and needs”: J. Fannin Presentation‌

Prof. Akihiro Takahashi (Tokyo Institute of Tech.) “Experimental research on internal erosion and its mechanical consequences for gap-graded soil”: A. Takahashi Presentation‌

Prof. Didier Marot (University of Nantes) “Internal erosion processes: experimental characterizations and energy based interpretative method”: D. Marot Presentation‌

Friday Sept 1^st:  Session 4:  UK Research Perspective:

Chair: Mr. Rod Bridle

Dr. Philippe Sentenac (Strathclyde) “Erosion and fine fissuring detection in embankments using Geophysics”P. Sentenac Presentation

Dr. Catherine O’Sullivan (Imperial) “EPSRC project overview”: C. O'Sullivan Presentation‌

Dr. Elisabeth Bowman (Sheffield) – “Visualising internal erosion mechanisms using transparent soil” E. Bowman Presentation‌

Dr. Tom Shire (University of Glasgow) “Micro-scale Modelling of Internally Unstable Soils”T. Shire Presentation‌

Dr. Adnan Sufian (Imperial College) : “Insights into fluid flow, water retention and deformation using pore-scale characterisation of granular materials”: A. Sufian Presentation‌

Dr. Ed Smith (Imperial College) “Linking Computational Fluid Dynamics and the Discrete Element Method for Large Scale Simulations”: E. Smith Presentation‌

Chris Knight (Imperial College) “Pore scale modelling of fluid flow in dense grain packings with the Immersed Boundary Method”: C. Knight Presentation‌