Introduction

This online course is intended for civil, geological and mining professionals with tailing and embankment dam engineering experience who also want to apply the best available tools for filter design of internally unstable soil/rock materials and reliability analysis of the internal erosion risk called “piping”.

The course will cover principles and basics of non-cohesive well graded type soil migration (internal erosion) behaviors and its applications for tailing or earth embankment dam designs with evaluation of engineering properties of tailing/soil/rock, and practical exercise problem sets from actual author’s project experiences. Embankment dam/levee/tailing engineer should be trained to cope with non-uniform and heterogeneous soil/rock/tailing properties and able to effectively characterize the foundation materials or tailing condition with field and lab testing parameters to recommend best suitable filter design for the crucial dam substructures (underdrain and chimney filter).

Dr. Lee is willing to share his professional experiences to let audience design the optimal granular filter for earth/tailing dam/levee and risk analysis of internal erosions feasible inside and at underlying dams. During the exercise problem, author’s engineering spreadsheet (educational version) will be provided to audiences to help understand and develop the practical approaches for the granular filter design.

Objectives

1. Clarify understanding of probabilistic approach in granular filter/internal erosion risk design.
2. Learn practical knowledge of filter and internal erosion analysis and its application to real project problems.
3. Acquisition of best available granular/geotextile filter design tools to select the optimal filter among candidate materials.
4. Capability to prepare a dam core/filter design report using quantitative risk evaluation analysis.
5. Learn how to use analytical engineering tool, provided to audiences for filter/internal erosion risk analysis (Excel programs in SI units) during course exercises.

Limited places.

Module I: Introduction of Porous Media Filter Design (1st week)

– Application Areas of Civil/Mining Filter
– Importance of Filter Functions
– General Clogging Mechanism of Filters
– Comparison of Granular and Geotextile Filters
– Limitations of Current Filter Design Format
– Problematic Soils and Internal Erosion Behaviors
– Filter Design Parameters and the Further Considerations
– Hydraulic Condition and Its Impact on Filter Performances
– 2-D FDM Simulation for Unsaturated Seepage Flow near Underdrain Pipe

Quiz 1 (15 minutes)

Module II: Experimental Investigation of Geotextile Filter Application (2nd week)

– Introduction of Flexible Wall Gradient Ratio (FWGR) test
– Difference between conventional gradient ratio test and FWGR test
– Geotextile/soil clogging parameters
– Input & output parameters of FWGR test
– Difference between gradient ratio (GR) and geotextile head loss (GHL)
– Slurry deposition method applied to FWGR test
– Compaction degree control of FWGR test
– Fine content profile change after FWGR test
– Examples of GR and GHL Behaviors during FWGR test

Exercise 1 (due by end of 2nd week)

Webinar I (2 hours Q/A session in 2nd week module)

Module III Current Industry Practices of Dam Filter Design (3rd week)

– Geotech field/lab tests to characterize the base soil properties required in filter design
– Basic soil properties and phase relations
– Compaction degree vs. relative density
– FEMA granular filter design
– Retention/drainage/anti-segregation criteria
– Current practice of granular filter design for embankment dams
– Exemplary problems for FEMA filter design practices

Exercise 2 (due by end of 3rd week)

Module IV Probabilistic Analysis Tool for Granular Filter Design (4th week)

– Importance of Self-filtration (“Bridging”) Process
– Relationship between Constriction and Pore Structure
– Relationship of Size Distributions between Grain and Constriction
– Internal Erosion (Self-segregation) Process
– Forward Passing Probability
– Case Study of Filter Retention Criteria
– Case Study of Filter Drainage Criteria

Quiz 2 (15 minutes)

Webinar II (2 hours Q/A session in 4th week module)

Module V Reliability Approach of Internal Erosion Risk Assessment (5th week)

– Field/Lab investigation Plan
– Mechanism of Internal Erosion Process
– Consequence of Internal Erosion Process
– Relationship between Grain Size Distribution and Internal Stability
– Potential Paths of Piping Development
– Reliability Approach of Internal Erosion Risk Evaluation
– Piping Susceptible Particle Size vs. Maximum Likelihood Conduit Size
– Case Study of Reliability Analysis on Internal Erosion Risk of Foundation Soils

Exercise 3 (due by end of 5th week)

Module VI Geosynthetic Filter Application to Auxiliary Dam Features (6th week)

– Laboratory Set-up for Rapid Retention Test (RRT)
– Geotextile Clogging Parameters
– GT bonding type effect on filter performances
– Fine content effect on GT filter performances
– Compaction effort effect on GT filter performances
– Hydraulic gradient effect on GT filter performances
– GT thickness effect on fine capture performance
– Clay content effect on GT filter performances
– Best available GT filter design for problematic (well graded non-cohesive) soils
– Exemplary problems for GT filter design

Webinar III (2 hours Q/A session in 6th week)

Final Test (30 minutes for multiple choices, deadline by a week after Webinar III)

Grading Method for Certificate

100% – Final Exam (30 problems) over 70% correct
Spreadsheet program (education version of GEOBRIDGE) to be provided during class

Dr. Lee

Lecturer, Dr. Lee has over 15 years professional experiences of civil/ environmental /geotechnical industries and having published 12 technical papers at international peer review journal and conferences after Ph.D. graduation from Purdue University. He had worked for many city, state and federal projects and drafted and reviewed project documents/drawings including construction plans and engineering calculations for bridge/retaining wall structures, grading and right of way aspects to check conformance with construction codes, regulations and engineering standards of practice such as AASHTO, FHWA, DOT manuals and U.S. State specifications.

He has developed geotechnical laboratory test manuals and managed Army Corp /AMRL /ASTM certified laboratory over 10 years. Also participated in several kick-off and on-site meetings for complex civil and/or geotechnical engineering features of development plans including embankment and slope analysis (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington DOT); seepage analysis for flood wall design (Chicago and Jacksonville headquarters of USACE), earthquake and erosion hazards for levee/earth dam (FEM and probabilistic methods); deep foundations (driven pipe/H piles, drilled shaft for Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington DOTs); retaining walls (MSE, CIP, and modular block walls); excavation shoring (cantilever and anchor system).

Dr. Lee considers himself within top 1% geotechnical engineer, familiar with advanced engineering design and innovative analysis methods (probabilistic/stochastic methods including LRFD) and having made discrete engineering judgments over many complex and interdisciplinary civil projects.

The course is delivered online through our easy-to-use Virtual Campus platform. For this course, a variety of content is provided including:

– eLearning materials
– Videos
– Interactive multimedia content
– Live webinar classes
– Texts and technical articles
– Case studies
– Assignments and evaluation exercises

Students can delivery the materials and work through the course at their own pace.
We regularly update this course to ensure the latest news and state-of-the-art developments are covered, and your knowledge of the subject is current.

Live webinars form part of our course delivery. These allow students and tutors to go through the course materials, exchange ideas and knowledge, and solve problems together in a virtual classroom setting. Students can also make use of the platform’s forum, a meeting point to interact with tutors and other students.

The tutoring system is managed by email. Students can email the tutor with any questions about the course and the tutor will be happy to help.

• – Undergraduates above senior level or graduate students who has sufficient knowledge on soil mechanics and has interest in learning advanced filter design for civil, tailing and mining industries.
• – PhD students who has interest in pursuing research topics of soil internal stability evaluation with theoretical approaches and backup laboratory experiments.
• – Engineers who want pursuing or transitioning to a professional filter design career path in future.
• – Civil/mining/geotech engineers who want to be more competent with current dam filter design.
• – Civil engineers who are involved in federal/local government project to renovate old dam/levee.

• – Lead civil/mining/tailing projects acknowledged as a risk control engineer.
• – Check internal stability and piping susceptibility of tailing/dam structure with probabilistic methods.
• – Environmental risk management of tailing dam safety against internal erosion.
• – Participate in government projects (State or federal funded) employing risk control/management.
• – Learn more reliable and sophisticated GT and granular filter design using a probabilistic approach.
• – Seek possible co-work opportunity with author in developing the more practical solution of filter design.