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An Investigation on Erodibility and Geotechnical Characteristics of Fine Grained Fluvial Soils from Lower Michigan

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Abstract

Scour and erosion potential of a soil are closely related to each other. Similarities or differences between them have not been defined fully and the terms are often used interchangeably or in association with one another. Erodibility is a property of soil that describes erosion potential. Therefore, a proper understanding of erodibility should help predict scour more accurately. In the past, researchers have looked into erosion of soils with the ultimate objective of understanding the erodibility with respect to the standard geotechnical properties. Most research has shown the difficulties associated with correlating erodibility to any one or more soil properties. The research described in this paper is mainly focused on the relationship between erodibility and dry unit weight of soil with varying fractions of fines. Soils tested using laboratory Jet Erosion Test (JET) indicated that the logarithm of erodibility makes a linear inverse relationship with the dry unit weight. In situ JETs confirmed the range of erodibilities established by the laboratory JETs. The best correlations between erodibility and dry unit weight appeared within a single category of soil as classified by the Unified Soil Classification System. In addition, it was also determined that the logarithm of erodibility is inversely related to the angle of internal friction of the fluvial soils tested during this investigation.

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Acknowledgments

Authors wish to thank the Michigan Department of Transportation (Research contract #2007-0436) and College of Engineering at Lawrence Technological University for making funds available for this project. We would also like to thank Tim Calappi for support with field work and data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, 477 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI, 48226, USA

    Matthew A. McClerren

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West Ten Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, USA

    Hiroshan Hettiarachchi & Donald D. Carpenter

Authors
  1. Matthew A. McClerren
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  2. Hiroshan Hettiarachchi
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  3. Donald D. Carpenter
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Correspondence to Matthew A. McClerren or Hiroshan Hettiarachchi.

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McClerren, M.A., Hettiarachchi, H. & Carpenter, D.D. An Investigation on Erodibility and Geotechnical Characteristics of Fine Grained Fluvial Soils from Lower Michigan. Geotech Geol Eng 30, 881–892 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-012-9507-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-012-9507-4

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