Prediction of Internal Soil Erosion in Hydraulic Works

Abstract

Hydraulic structures built on land, such as dams, are numerous and essential as their purpose is to protect people and property (dikes and levees), generate electricity, or create water reserves (dams). Soil erosion, known as hydraulic foxing, is a complex phenomenon which, in its ultimate stage, produces insidious leakage of fluids beneath hydraulic infrastructures known as pipes, and is the main cause of their failure. The HET pipe erosion test is commonly used to quantify the rate of pipe erosion. In this work, the hole erosion test is modeled using ANSYS Fluent software. The aim is to predict the soil erosion rate during the hole erosion test in order to predict the phenomenon of hydraulic foxing within hydraulic structures. The renormalization group theory-based k−ε turbulence model equations are used. This modeling makes it possible to describe the effect of the clay concentration in flowing water on erosion. Contrary to the usual one-dimensional models, the modeling proposed in this study shows that erosion is not uniform along the entire length of the hole. In particular, clay concentration was found to significantly increase the erosion rate.