| Summary: | Performance data on earth dams and levees continue to indicate that piping is one of the major causes of failure. Current criteria for prevention of piping in earth dams and levees have remained largely empirical. This paper aims at developing a mechanistic understanding of the conditions necessary to prevent piping and to enhance the likelihood of self-healing of cracks in levees subjected to hydrodynamic loading from astronomical and meteorological (including hurricane storm surge-induced) forces. Systematic experimental investigations are performed to evaluate erosion in finite-length cracks as a result of transient hydrodynamic loading. Here, a novel application of the localized collocation meshless method (LCMM) to the hydrodynamic and poroelastic problem is introduced to arrive at high-fidelity field solutions. Results from the LCMM numerical simulations are designed to be used as an input, along with the soil and erosion parameters obtained experimentally, to characterize progressive piping.
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