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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2024 | Viewed by 12104

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiang Yu

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Guest Editor

School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: dam engineering; overburden foundation, dynamic response; damage of concrete diaphragm structure; liquefaction and stability analysis; numerical analysis method; refined analysis method
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Yuke Wang

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Guest Editor

School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: soil mechanics and constitutive theory; subgrade; geotechnical engineering; non-destructive repair technology; geotechnical test; numerical method; shield tunnel; reliability analysis; slope engineering

Dr. Yongqian Qu

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Guest Editor

School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
Interests: rockfill dam engineering; dynamic analysis; soil-structure interaction; multi-numerical analysis method; discontinuous deformation analysis; damage and failure of anti-seepage structure; overburden foundation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the increasing global demand for energy, water energy resources have been widely promoted as a clean energy source. In order to meet the needs of water energy resource development, hydraulic engineering has rapidly developed and plays an important role in regulating water resources and flood control by controlling river water levels and flow rates to achieve these objectives. However, hydraulic engineering faces various challenges in terms of design, construction, and operation due to complex geographical conditions. For example, under strong seismic conditions, soil liquefaction is prone to occur, leading to foundation settlement and dam slope instability, while other hydraulic structures may also suffer damage. Due to the extensive and crucial role of hydraulic engineering, the evaluation of its structural safety performance is particularly important. This Special Issue of the journal Water will focus on research related to the safety of hydraulic structures, aiming to advance the development and regulation of water resources. The Special Issue’s topics include, but are not limited to, seismic response analysis of hydraulic structures, research on the seismic performance of hydraulic structures, studies on earthquake input methods, and refined analyses.

We believe these subjects will be very useful for the further development of water power resources.

Dr. Xiang Yu
Prof. Dr. Yuke Wang
Dr. Yongqian Qu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

hydraulic structure
geotechnical engineering
safety evaluation
numerical simulation
fine analysis
dynamic response
soft foundation
mechanical characteristics
damage behavior
treatment measure

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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18 pages, 7221 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of the Effective Numerical Model for Seismic Response Analysis of Concrete-Faced Rockfill Dam on Deep Overburden

by Chuan Tang, Yongqian Qu, Degao Zou and Xianjing Kong

Water 2024, 16(22), 3257; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16223257 - 13 Nov 2024

Viewed by 381

Abstract

The construction of high rockfill dams on deep overburden in seismically active regions poses significant challenges. Currently, there are no standardized guidelines for defining the computational domain range in seismic analysis, necessitating the establishment of a universally applicable computational domain range that optimizes the balance between computational accuracy and efficiency. This has critical engineering implications for the seismic analysis of rockfill dams on deep overburden. This study employed the seismic wave input method to consider the dynamic interaction between the dam, overburden, and infinite domain. A systematic investigation was conducted on a concrete-faced rockfill dam (CFRD) constructed on deep overburden, considering the influences of overburden thickness, dam height, overburden properties, soil layer configuration, ground motion intensity, and the frequency content of the seismic waves. The acceleration response and seismic deformation of the dam were analyzed. Subsequently, the computational domain range corresponding to various levels of acceptable engineering precision was established. The results indicated that the lateral boundary length should extend a minimum distance equal to the sum of 3 times the overburden depth and 1.2 times the maximum dam height. Additionally, the depth below the overburden–bedrock interface should extend at least 1.2 times the maximum dam height. This study provides a crucial foundation for determining the optimal computational domain range in the seismic analysis of rockfill dams constructed on deep overburden. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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18 pages, 4115 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting the Deformation of a Concrete Dam Using an Integration of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Networks and Kolmogorov–Arnold Networks (KANs) with a Dual-Stage Attention Mechanism

by Rui Xu, Xingyang Liu, Jiahao Wei, Xingxing Ai, Zhanchao Li and Hairui He

Water 2024, 16(21), 3043; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16213043 - 24 Oct 2024

Viewed by 758

Abstract

An accurate prediction model for dam deformation is crucial for ensuring the safety and operational integrity of dam structures. This study introduces a hybrid modeling approach that integrates long short-term memory (LSTM) networks with Kolmogorov–Arnold networks (KANs). Additionally, the model incorporates a dual-stage attention mechanism (DA) that includes both factor and temporal attention components, enhancing the model’s precision and interpretability. The effectiveness of the DA-LSTM-KAN model was validated through a case study involving a concrete gravity dam. A comparative analysis with traditional models, including multiple linear regression and various LSTM variants, demonstrated that the DA-LSTM-KAN model significantly outperformed these alternatives in predicting dam deformation. An interpretability analysis further revealed that the seasonal and hydrostatic components contributed significantly to the horizontal displacement, while the irreversible component had the least impact. This importance ranking was qualitatively consistent with the results obtained from the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method and the relative weight method. The enhancement of the model’s predictive and explanatory capabilities underscores the hybrid model’s utility in providing detailed and actionable intelligence for dam safety monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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20 pages, 7205 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Effect of Liquefiable Overburden Foundations of Rockfill Dams Based on a Pore Pressure Model

by Zhuxin Li, Hao Zou, Shengqi Jian, Zhongxu Li, Hengxing Lin, Xiang Yu and Minghao Li

Water 2024, 16(18), 2649; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16182649 - 18 Sep 2024

Viewed by 535

Abstract

China’s southwestern region boasts abundant hydropower resources. However, the area is prone to frequent strong earthquakes. The areas surrounding dam sites typically have deep overburden, and the liquefaction of saturated sand foundations by earthquakes poses significant safety risks to the construction of high dams in the southwest. The effects of liquefaction and reinforcing measures on the foundations of rockfill dams on liquefiable overburden under seismic action are currently the subject of somewhat unsystematic investigations. The paper utilizes the total stress and effective stress methods, based on the equivalent linear model, to perform numerical simulations on the overburden foundations of rockfill dams. The study explores how factors such as dam height, overburden thickness, liquefiable layer depth, liquefiable layer thickness, ground motion intensity, and seismic wave characteristics affect the liquefaction of the overburden foundations. Additionally, it examines how rockfill dams impact the dynamic response, considering the liquefaction effects in the overburden. The results show that although the total stress method, which ignores the cumulative evolution of pore pressure during liquefaction, can reveal the basic response trend of the dam, its results in predicting the acceleration response are significantly biased compared to those of the effective stress method, which comprehensively considers the cumulative changes in liquefaction pore pressure. Specifically, when the effect of soil liquefaction is considered, the predicted acceleration response is reduced compared to that when liquefaction is not considered, with the reduction ranging from 4% to 30%; with increases in the thickness and burial depth of the liquefiable layer, the effective stress method considering liquefaction significantly reduces the predicted peak acceleration; the effect of liquefiable soil on the attenuation of the speed response is more sensitive to the low-frequency portion of the seismic wave. The study’s findings are a significant source of reference for the planning and building of rockfill dams on liquefiable overburden. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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15 pages, 6402 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preliminary Experiences in Determining the Soil–Water Characteristic Curve of a Sandy Soil Using Physical Slope Modeling

by Josip Peranić, Martina Vivoda Prodan, Rea Škuflić and Željko Arbanas

Water 2024, 16(13), 1859; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16131859 - 28 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 879

Abstract

Relating soil moisture content to soil suction, the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) represents an essential feature in unsaturated soil mechanics that enables estimation of different unsaturated soil property functions and modeling of the macro-scale soil behavior. However, depending on the soil and processes under consideration, proper hydraulic characterization of a soil through direct laboratory measurements can be difficult, time-consuming, and involve many uncertainties. In the case of uniformly graded sands, there is a highly nonlinear and steep shape of the SWCC, with only a few kPa of soil suction separating saturated and residual soil moisture conditions, which makes measurements for determinations of SWCC especially challenging. This study encompasses an investigation of the sandy type of soil’s behavior and presents some preliminary results and experiences on the determination of SWCC through the use of physical slope model tests. The 30 cm deep slope, inclined at 35 degrees and instrumented with soil moisture and pore water pressure sensors, was exposed to series of rainfall intensities, ranging from 37 up to 300 mm/h. The results indicated that the data on hydraulic response in monitored points are not only useful for the determination of SWCC, but that the approach is useful for investigation of hydraulic hysteresis phenomena, as well as its effects on soil moisture and pore water pressure conditions, which also affects the stability conditions of a slope. In particular, the best-fit parameters of the van Genuchten model suggested air entry values of 1.6 and 1.1 kPa for the drying and the wetting curves of the SWCC, respectively, with the two branches shifted by about 1 kPa of soil suction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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17 pages, 6110 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Modeling and Prediction Methods in Dredging Construction Areas

by Qi Guo, Wangming Wang, Zihao Yuan, Zhenjie Wang, Wei Wei and Pan Jiang

Water 2024, 16(12), 1724; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16121724 - 18 Jun 2024

Viewed by 931

Abstract

In the current implementation process for dredging projects, due to the lack of an accurate understanding of underwater soil characteristics, construction teams often find it difficult to accurately understand the soil condition. Not only does this lead to a reduced dredger operation efficiency, but it may also cause delays to the project’s progress, as well as increasing its cost. Therefore, there is an urgent need to closely integrate soil analysis technology with dredging construction to ensure that projects can be completed efficiently and to a high standard. Therefore, this paper proposes a soil modeling and prediction method based on a three-dimensional point cloud model. The research objective is to propose a new method of soil mass identification with a strong generalization ability and function, which can not only be applied to dredging engineering but can also identify and analyze statistics of land soil and its mass. The accuracy of this method, based on a convergent grid, can reach 95%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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32 pages, 14485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimating Increased Transient Water Storage with Increases in Beaver Dam Activity

by Konrad C. Hafen, Joseph M. Wheaton, Brett B. Roper, Philip Bailey, William W. Macfarlane, Bethany T. Neilson and Christopher J. Tennant

Water 2024, 16(11), 1515; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16111515 - 25 May 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 976

Abstract

Dam building by beaver (Castor spp.) slows water movement through montane valleys, increasing transient water storage and the diversity of residence times. In some cases, water storage created by beaver dam construction is correlated to changes in streamflow magnitude and timing. However, the total amount of additional surface and groundwater storage that beaver dams may create (and, thus, their maximum potential impact on streamflow) has not been contextualized in the water balance of larger river basins. We estimate the potential transient water storage increases that could be created at 5, 25, 50, and 100% of maximum modeled beaver dam capacity in the Bear River basin, USA, by adapting the height above nearest drainage (HAND) algorithm to spatially estimate surface water storage. Surface water storage estimates were combined with the MODFLOW groundwater model to estimate potential increases in groundwater storage throughout the basin. We tested four scenarios to estimate potential transient water storage increases resulting from the construction of 1179 to 34,897 beaver dams, and estimated surface water storage to range from 57.5 to 72.8 m³ per dam and groundwater storage to range from 182.2 to 313.3 m³ per dam. Overall, we estimate that beaver dam construction could increase transient water storage by up to 10.38 million m³ in the Bear River basin. We further contextualize beaver dam-related water storage increases with streamflow, reservoir, and snowpack volumes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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28 pages, 21043 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Characteristics and Evolution Laws of Seepage Damage in Red Mud Tailings Dams

by Shiqi Chang, Xiaoqiang Dong, Xiaofeng Liu, Xin Xu, Haoru Zhang and Yinhao Huang

Water 2024, 16(11), 1487; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16111487 - 23 May 2024

Viewed by 674

Abstract

Seepage damage is a significant factor leading to red mud tailings dam failures. Laboratory tests on seepage damage were conducted to investigate the damage characteristics and distribution laws of red mud tailings dams, including soil pressure, infiltration line, pore water pressure, dam displacement, and crack evolution. The findings revealed the seepage damage mechanisms of red mud slopes, offering insights for the safe operation and seepage damage prevention of red mud tailings dams. The results showed that the higher the water level is in the red mud tailings dam, the higher position the infiltration line is when it reaches the slope face. At the highest infiltration line point of the slope surface, the increase of pore water pressure is the highest and the change of horizontal soil pressure is the highest. Consequently, increased pore water pressure leads to decreased effective stress and shear strength, increasing the susceptibility to damage. Cracks resulting from seepage damage predominantly form below the infiltration line; the higher the infiltration lines is on the slope surface, the higher the position of the main crack formations is. The displacement of the dam body primarily occurs due to the continuous expansion of major cracks; the higher the infiltration lines are on the slope surface, the larger the displacement of the dam body is. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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14 pages, 1897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Permeability Characteristics and Gradation of Rockfill Material Based on Machine Learning

by Qigui Yang, Jianqing Zhang, Xing Dai, Zhigang Ye, Chenglong Wang and Shuyang Lu

Water 2024, 16(8), 1135; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16081135 - 16 Apr 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1407

Abstract

The density of rockfill material is an important index to evaluate the quality of rockfill dams. It is of great significance to accurately obtain the densities and permeability coefficients of rockfill material dams quickly and accurately by scientific means. However, it takes a long time to measure the permeability coefficient of rockfill material in practice, which means that such measurements cannot fully reflect all the relevant properties. In this paper, using a convolutional neural network (CNN), a machine learning model was established to predict the permeability coefficient of rockfill material with the full scale (d₁₀~d₁₀₀), pore ratio, Cu, and Cc as the inputs and the permeability coefficient as the output. Through collecting the permeability coefficient and related data in the literature, the set samples were sorted for model training. The prediction results of the trained CNN model are compared with those of the back propagation (BP) model to verify the accuracy of the CNN model. Laboratory constant head penetration experiments were designed to verify the generalization performance of the model. The results show that compared with the BP model, the CNN model has better applicability to the prediction of the permeability coefficient of rockfill material and that the CNN can obtain better accuracy and meet the requirements of the rough estimation of rockfill materials’ permeability in engineering. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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13 pages, 3987 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Load Transfer Law of Pipe Pile between O-Cell Test and Traditional Static Load Test

by Xiaodong Xu, Peining Zhu, Yaya Song, Weijie Chen, Lin Chen, Jia Weng, Teng Xu and Yuke Wang

Water 2024, 16(6), 826; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16060826 - 12 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1097

Abstract

In recent years, the detection of offshore pile foundations has received wide attention in engineering. Compared with traditional methods, the O-cell test has unique advantages in offshore pile foundation detection. To study the load transfer characteristics of the O-cell method for pile testing in coastal soft soil foundation, this paper established the pile–soil numerical model to simulate the O-cell and traditional testing processes. The finite element method and equal displacement method are combined to calculate the conversion coefficient and ultimate bearing capacity, and the distribution forms of axial force, side friction resistance, and tip resistance are discussed. The research results show that the O-cell test method and the traditional method have different load transfer forms. By introducing the equal displacement method into the O-cell pile–soil model, the error between the equivalent conversion ultimate bearing capacity and the calculation result of the surcharge method is less than 0.5%, and the O-cell conversion coefficient can be accurately calculated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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17 pages, 5377 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Impoundment Deformation Characteristics and Crack of High Core Rockfill Dam Based on Inversion Parameters

by Litan Pan, Bo Wu, Daquan Wang, Xiongxiong Zhou, Lijie Wang and Yi Zhang

Water 2024, 16(1), 188; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16010188 - 4 Jan 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1611

Abstract

In the numerical simulation of earth-rock dam, accurate and reliable mechanical parameters of the dam material are the important basis for dam deformation predictions and dam safety evaluations. Based on the deformation monitoring data of Luding core wall rockfill dam, the rheological parameters of rockfill and core wall materials are inverted in this paper. Combined with the actual filling and impoundment process of the dam, the numerical simulation is carried out, and the stress deformation and differential settlement of the dam after completion and impoundment are analyzed. The results showed that the stress deformation results of the dam based on the inversion parameters were in good agreement with the actual deformation. The horizontal displacement, settlement, and principal stress of the dam during the completion period were symmetrically distributed along the core wall. The maximum horizontal displacement occurred at the main dam on both sides of the core wall and the upstream and downstream dam slopes, and the maximum settlement occurred in the middle of the core wall. During the impoundment period, under the action of reservoir water pressure and upstream rockfill wetting deformation, the deformation and stress of the dam body no longer met the symmetrical distribution law, and the maximum horizontal displacement of the dam body during the impoundment period was located at 2/3 of the upstream dam slope. The maximum settlement of the dam body was located at 1/2 of the dam height. The maximum principal stress on the upstream side of the core wall was located on the left side of the bottom of the core wall, and the minimum principal stress was also located on the left side of the bottom of the core wall. The simulation results of the deformation and stress met the general law of earth-rock dam engineering. During the completion period, the deformation inclination of the dam crest was less than 1%. During the impoundment period, the deformation inclination of the dam crest area increased due to the wetting deformation of the upstream rockfill material. At the same time, the deformation inclination of the dam crest axis was larger than that of the upstream and downstream sides, and the deformation inclination of the dam crest at the middle of the valley was the largest, but it did not exceed 3%, that is, there would be no longitudinal cracks, which is consistent with the actual situation. The research results can better predict the stress deformation and crack of the dam body, and provide important support for dam safety evaluations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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15 pages, 4583 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stress Path Efforts on Palm Fiber Reinforcement of Clay in Geotechnical Engineering

by Xue-Yan Liu, Yu Ye, Ke Li and Yun-Qi Wang

Water 2023, 15(23), 4053; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15234053 - 22 Nov 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1254

Abstract

Sixteen Reduced Triaxial Compression (RTC) triaxial tests were conducted to investigate the reinforcement effect of fibered clay in this paper. Palm fiber with four different fiber lengths (5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm) and four different fiber contents (0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, and 0.9% in mass) were utilized. Accordingly, three additional groups of triaxial tests were performed to analyze the stress path effects with four different stress paths, including RTC, Conventional Triaxial Compression (CTC), Reduced Triaxial Extension (RTE), and isotropic Triaxial Compression (TC). Three samples were tested, including fibered clay with a fiber length of 10 mm and a fiber content of 0.7% (referred to as 10 mm 0.7%), fibered clay with a fiber length of 20 mm and a fiber content of 0.5% (referred to as 20 mm 0.5%), and bare clay, which was used to reveal the fiber reinforcement of clay. All samples were tested under consolidated undrained conditions. The test results showed that in RTC conditions, the deviator stress increased to a greater extent with 0.3% mass content of fibers according to the same higher confining pressures of bare clay. Fibers primarily increased the cohesion of fibered clay, a shear strength parameter, in terms of total stress, whereas they also increased the friction angle of fibered clay in terms of effective stress. For short fibers, the coefficient of strength reinforcement of the fibered clay increased with fiber content. However, for long fibers, this reinforcement may lead to a weakening of the clay’s strength, as the long fibers may cluster or weaken along their longitude. Among the four stress paths (CTC, TC, RTC, and RTE) examined, the reinforcement took effort mainly in the CTC condition. In contrast, in unloading conditions, the fibers had little contribution to reinforcement. Consequently, in unloading conditions, such as deep excavating and slope cutting, the stress path should be considered to obtain a reliable parameter for geotechnical engineering applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances in Hydraulic Structure and Geotechnical Engineering)

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