Hydraulic Conductivity of Coarse Rockfill used in Hydraulic Structures

Internal erosion is a major cause of embankment dam failure. Unravelling and instability of the downstream slope, initiated by internal erosion and leakage through the dam core, is one of the most likely breach mechanisms for large, zoned embankment dams. To be able to model this mechanism, the relationship between the hydraulic gradient and the flow velocity for the coarse rockfill material must be understood. Because most studies of this topic have focused on the flow parameters in gravel-size materials with Reynolds (Re) numbers lower than 25,000, permeability measurements are needed coarser rockfill material under heavily turbulent flow regimes prevailing in rockfill material under certain design flow scenarios. This paper presents the set-up and results of a series of field and laboratory experimental studies and the subsequent data interpretation, from which relevant hydraulic conductivity parameters, defined in applicable flow laws, were extracted. This study demonstrates that the exponent of a power flow law relating the hydraulic gradient and the flow velocity is Re number dependent for pore Re numbers 60,000. The power remains constant (Re number independent) above this Re number threshold for the fully developed turbulent regime. This validity threshold as well as the constant behaviour also applies if the flow law is written in a quadratic form. The aforementioned threshold lies beyond the ranges investigated experimentally by previous researchers. The experiments in this study examined Re numbers as large as 220,000 for grain-diameter distributions in the range 100-160 mm and as large as 320,000 in the range 160-240 mm.