Stability of earth dam contaminated by chemical transport

When chemicals are introduced into the oil, they affect soil properties such as hydraulic conductivity and stress–strain behavior. In this study, several chloride concentrations are varied from 0 to 20 per cent to analyse the effect of chemicals on soil properties. A series of laboratory triaxial tests are performed on the cylindrical specimens of sand–bentonite mixture with different sodium chloride contents (5, 10, 15 per cent) by Nannapaneni. Deformation (elastic modulus, E) and strength (cohesion, c′, and angle of friction, ϕ′) parameters are obtained from the triaxial tests as functions of confining pressure and sodium chloride concentrations, and variations of parameters are incorporated into stability analysis. The stress–strain–strength behaviour based on the above strength parameters is introduced in a finite element procedure with a modified residual flow procedure (RFP). By integrating a slope stability procedure in the finite element method, the stability with time of earth dam contaminated by sodium chloride is examined. It is found that increasing sodium chloride concentration for the soil considered increases stability. However, the procedure is general and can allow stability analysis under the influence of other chemical which may lead to decrease in stability. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.