Effect of Clay on Internal Erosion of Clay-Sand-Gravel Mixture

In this study, a one-dimensional seepage test apparatus was used to investigate the effect of clay on the critical hydraulic gradient, hydraulic conductivity, migration of fine particles in soil, and percentage of fine particle loss during the internal erosion of clay-sand-gravel mixture, compared with clean gravel. The critical hydraulic gradient and fine sand loss percentage of the clay-sand-gravel mixture decreased, and critical flow velocity and the hydraulic conductivity increased. Six clay-sand-gravel mixture samples with different clay contents were used to evaluate the effect of different clay contents on internal erosion. As the percentage of clay mass to fine particle mass increases from 0% to 25%, the critical hydraulic gradient of soil samples decreases by nearly half and the fine sand loss percentage decreases from 13.73% to 3.48%. Overall, clay has a significant effect on the development of internal erosion of clay-sand-gravel mixture. And attention should be paid in engineering project; clay-sand-gravel mixture with a small amount of clay is more likely to be damaged than clean gravel.

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