The paper describes and interprets watertightness problems that occurred in two Italian earth dams: the Polverina Dam, a zoned earth dam with vertical clay core, and the Zoccolo Dam, a homogeneous embankment with upstream facing of bituminous conglomerate. Measurements of seepage flows, pore water pressures and displacements in different stages of the dams' lifetime were collected and suitably interpreted to detect the effectiveness of measured physical quantities in revealing watertightness problems. The paper focuses on the role of pore water pressure measurements to such a scope and enhances how the effectiveness of such measurements may be strongly affected by the particular stage reached by the consolidation process within the dam. The analysis of the two case-studies proved that pore water pressure measurements may result effective in revealing hydraulic problems only when significant re-equilibrium processes have taken place in the dam zones where the measurement points are located. Measurements result, instead, ineffective during a nearly undrained stage. The paper also discusses the effectiveness of seepage flow measurements to detect possible hydraulic problems.

PORE WATER PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HYDRAULIC BEHAVIOUR OF TWO EARTH DAMS / Luca, Pagano; Fontanella, Enzo; Stefania, Sica; Desideri, Augusto. - In: SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS. - ISSN 0038-0806. - STAMPA. - 50:2(2010), pp. 295-307. [10.3208/sandf.50.295]

PORE WATER PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HYDRAULIC BEHAVIOUR OF TWO EARTH DAMS

FONTANELLA, Enzo;DESIDERI, Augusto
2010

Abstract

The paper describes and interprets watertightness problems that occurred in two Italian earth dams: the Polverina Dam, a zoned earth dam with vertical clay core, and the Zoccolo Dam, a homogeneous embankment with upstream facing of bituminous conglomerate. Measurements of seepage flows, pore water pressures and displacements in different stages of the dams' lifetime were collected and suitably interpreted to detect the effectiveness of measured physical quantities in revealing watertightness problems. The paper focuses on the role of pore water pressure measurements to such a scope and enhances how the effectiveness of such measurements may be strongly affected by the particular stage reached by the consolidation process within the dam. The analysis of the two case-studies proved that pore water pressure measurements may result effective in revealing hydraulic problems only when significant re-equilibrium processes have taken place in the dam zones where the measurement points are located. Measurements result, instead, ineffective during a nearly undrained stage. The paper also discusses the effectiveness of seepage flow measurements to detect possible hydraulic problems.
2010
case history; dam; earth dams; hydraulics; measurement; measurement result; pore pressure; seepage; settlement; soil water properties
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
PORE WATER PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HYDRAULIC BEHAVIOUR OF TWO EARTH DAMS / Luca, Pagano; Fontanella, Enzo; Stefania, Sica; Desideri, Augusto. - In: SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS. - ISSN 0038-0806. - STAMPA. - 50:2(2010), pp. 295-307. [10.3208/sandf.50.295]
File allegati a questo prodotto
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/227873
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 19
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 11
social impact