A sample formation procedure to obtain homogeneous post-erosion particle size distribution

Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

^* Corresponding author: a.russell@unsw.edu.au

Abstract

Internal erosion (suffusion) is caused by water seeping through the matrix of coarse soil and progressively transporting out fine particles. The mechanical strength of soils within water retaining structures may be affected after internal erosion occurs. However, most experimental investigations on the mechanical consequences of internal erosion have used triaxial tests on samples having nonhomogeneous particle size distributions along their lengths. Such nonhomogeneities arise from the most commonly used sample formation procedure, in which seeping water enters one end of a sample and washes fine particles out the other. In this paper a new soil sample formation procedure is presented which results in homogeneous particle size distributions along the direction of seepage, that is at all locations along a sample's length.