SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1992
STP19740S

Design, Construction and Performance of a Soil-Bentonite Cutoff Wall Constructed in Two Stages

Source

Soil-bentonite seepage cutoffs constructed by the slurry-trench method in earth embankments present serious design and construction concerns that need to be adequately addressed in order to assure overall embankment safety. The paper describes the various phases of the installation and performance monitoring of a 1,500 m (4,900 ft) long S-B cutoff wall in a dam and dike constructed of sandy material. The cutoff wall extended to a maximum depth of 23 m (75 ft) and had a width of 0.9 m (3 ft), except for a 305 m (1,000 ft) long section where the width was increased to 1.5 m (5 ft) to accommodate hydraulic heads in excess of 9 m (30 ft). Construction of the wall was performed in two stages. The lower stage was constructed when the dam reached about 75 percent of its maximum height while the upper stage was constructed when the dam was close to its final height. This is believed to be the first use of an S-B cutoff constructed in two stages as the main barrier in a new embankment. The paper also discusses the lessons learned from this two-stage construction and post-construction performance based on the collected instrumentation data.

Author Information

Khoury, MA
Fayad, PH
Ladd, RS
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Details
Developed by Committee: D18
Pages: 289–308
DOI: 10.1520/STP19740S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5191-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-1427-2