Seepage Anisotropy of Heterogeneous Body

Ore dumps are heterogeneous bodies with anisotropic seepage characteristics because of the ore segregation. In an indoor experiment,a dump was constructed with three strata,where the horizontal and vertical seepage experi-ments were carried out. Horizontals flow are regarded as phreatic plan flows without penetration. Its seepage law sati-fies the Dupuit equation. With parallel lay seepage model,the equivalent seepage coefficient in the horizontal flow was obtained and was equivalent to the weighted mean of the seepage coefficient of each stratum. An unsaturated flow ap-peared in the vertical experiment,with a hydraulic gradient of 1. The vertical flow was equivalent to the seepage model that moved in vertical bedding; its equivalent seepage coefficient depended on the stratum with the minimum seepage coefficient. That the experiment showed clear anisotropy in a heterogeneous body was obvious with an anisotropic co-efficient between 63 and 155,which is 25 to 100 times larger than that of a homogeneous body.

Non-Darcy flow seepage characteristics of saturated broken rocks under compression with lateral constraint

Using an MTS816.03 test system and self-designed seepage apparatus, seepage tests of saturated broken rocks were conducted, and the influence of lithology, axial stress, grain size distribution and loading rate on seepage characteristics was analyzed. The results show that： （1） Under the same axial stress （12 MPa）, the permeability of different lithologic samples increases in the order： gangue 〈 mudstone 〈 sandstone 〈 limestone. The permeability of gangue is 3 magnitudes lower than that of limestone. The absolute value of the non-Darcy coefficient β increases in the order： limestone 〈 sandstone 〈 mudstone 〈 gangue. The non-Darcy coefficient β of limestone, which is positive, is 5 magnitudes lower than that of gangue. （2） With increasing axial stress, the permeability of saturated broken sandstone decreases, and the absolute value of the non-Darcy coefficient β increases. After the axial stress exceeds 12 MPa, the curves of permeability and non-Darcy coefficient β all tend to be stable. （3） With increasing Talbol power exponent, the permeability increases, and the absolute value of the non-Darcy coefficient β decreases. （4） With increasing loading, the permeability increases, and the absolute value of the non-Darcy coefficient β decreases. When the loading rate is 0.5 kN/s, the non-Darcy coefficient β is positive.

Effect of freeze-thaw cycles on soil engineering properties of reservoir bank slopes at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain

The instability of soil bank slopes induced by freeze-thaw cycles at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain is very common.The failure not only caused a large amount of soil erosion,but also led to serious reservoir sedimentation and water quality degradation,which exerted a lot of adverse effects on agricultural production in the local irrigation areas.Based on field investigations on dozens of irrigation reservoirs there,laboratory tests were carried out to quantitatively analyze the freeze-thaw effect on the soil engineering characteristics to reveal the facilitation on the bank slope instability.The results show that the softening characteristics of the stressstrain curves gradually weaken,the effective cohesions decline exponentially,the seepage coefficients enlarge,and the thermal conductivities decrease after 7 freeze-thaw cycles.The freeze-thaw effect on the specimens with low confining pressures,low dry densities and high water contents is more significant.The water migration and the phase transition between water and ice result in the variations of the soil internal microstructures,which is the main factor affecting the soil engineering characteristics.Sufficient water supply and the alternation of positive and negative temperatures at the reservoir bank slopes in cold regions make the water migration and phase transition in the soil very intensely.It is easy to form a large number of pores and micro cracks in the soil freezing and thawing areas.The volume changes of the soil and the water migration are difficult to reach a dynamic balance in the open system.Long-term freeze-thaw cycles will bring out the fragmentation of the soil particles,resulting in that the micro cracks on the soil surfaces are developing continuously.The soil of the bank slopes will fall or collapse when these cracks penetrate,which often happens in winter there.