Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

The title of this test was Cracked Embankment Erosion Test (CEET) 8. This test took place from July 31 to August 2, 2017. The material used was Highland Clay and had a Plasticity Index (PI) of 27, classified as a lean to fat clay (CH/CL), had 95.4% passing the No. 200 sieve, the maximum unit weight was 103.4 pounds per cubic feet, and a moisture content of 20.2%, at optimum. The embankment was constructed using a pneumatic tamper to 95.8% compaction at optimum with approximately 1-inch lifts over a three-week period. The average void ratio was 0.67 and the average degree of saturation was 81.9. The embankment was 10 feet long (upstream to downstream), 1.5 feet wide, and 3 feet tall. The embankment was built using a stair step construction. The steps were removed prior to the test. The surface was not scarified prior to testing. The test crack was a 3/8-inch continuous crack both vertically and horizontally. Erosion was observed across the entire system within 10 minutes of water entering the crack. Speed tests were conducted throughout the experiment. This video file contains an audio description.