Assessing the Impact of Sample Size and Geology on Earthen Embankment Design and Construction Provisionally Accepted
H. Omar Ulloa
Navid Jafari
Ignacio Harrouch- 1Louisiana State University, United States
- 2Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, United States
This technical paper investigates the influence of sample size and geologic characteristics on the geotechnical design of levee embankments. Sample quality plays a vital role in quantifying engineering properties for levee embankment projects, and numerous studies have highlighted the impact of sample disturbance on such engineering properties. Despite this evidence, conventional tube and piston samplers of different diameters continue to be widely used, potentially leading to underestimation of shear strength. The paper focuses on comparing 7.6 cm and 12.7 cm diameter undisturbed Shelby tube samples and CPT data collected from three levee sites in the Greater New Orleans Area, Louisiana, USA, which encompass diverse geologic histories. The study aims to assess the effect of industry used samples size and geology on levee construction costs. The findings provide valuable insights into optimizing sample collection methods and improving geotechnical design for earthen embankments.
Keywords: Sample Size, Geology, Cone penetrometer test, Embankment, Construction
Received: 17 Aug 2023;
Accepted: 15 Apr 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Ulloa, Ramirez, Jafari, Harrouch and Barth. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mx. H. Omar Ulloa, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States