Study on the microscopic mechanism of fine particle content affecting seepage erosion law

Exploring of the transport characteristics of fine particles is of great engineering significance for clarifying the law of seepage erosion, as the content of fine particles will directly affect the soil’s resistance to permeation. Based on a self-developed PIV/PLIF seepage erosion system, the effects of initial content of fine particles on the microscopic flow velocity and critical hydraulic gradient during the seepage erosion process were investigated. The results show that: (1) the process of seepage erosion can be basically divided into three phases, i.e. stable, localized destruction, and overall destruction, according to the evolution law of microscopic flow velocity. This leads to the definition of critical hydraulic gradients for both localized and overall destruction, and both critical hydraulic gradients of the specimen increase with the increase of initial content of fine particles. (2) When the initial content of fine particles is less than 20%, the specimen is in an underfilled state, exhibiting a overall destruction phenomenon, and the actual measured average flow velocity of the specimen accelerates with the increase of the hydraulic gradient after overall destruction. When the initial content of fine particles exceeds 30%, the specimen is essentially in a fully filled state, with a extremely high resistance to permeation, and the overall actual measured average flow velocity of the specimen is relatively low. (3) During the phase of localized destruction, the rate of variation in the actual measured average flow velocity of the specimen decreases significantly with the increase of the initial content of fine particles. It is known that the initial content of fine particles has a significant impact on the microscopic mechanism of seepage erosion for the specimen.