Experimental Analysis of Deformation Characteristic for Soil Bank Slope Under Reservoir Water Level Fluctuation

Under reservoir water level fluctuation, soil bank slope water sucking, stress concentration and slip deformation in Three Gorges Reservoir area form slope cracks system at different periods and different spatial parts. In this study, laws of cracks spatial evolution in different deformation periods for soil bank slope were analyzed during a water cycle of impoundment and decline by model test. The test results indicated that, in the initial impoundment period, cracks appeared near the water line at the bank slope leading edge with high appearance frequency, and scale increased gradually and partial bank slope collapsed and damaged. In the middle impoundment period, cracks appeared in the front and trailing edges of bank slope, the frequency of occurrence and the scale of which decreased. And in the late impoundment period, the leading edge of the cracks development disappeared, the trailing edge of the cracks continued to develop and the bank slope crept along the sliding surface as a whole. Cracks expanded slowly in the pause impoundment as the water level raised. In the water level decline stage, tensile cracks mainly occurred in the back edges of bank slope. In the early water level decline, cracks appeared in low frequency and it grew slowly. In the late water level decline, cracks appeared in high frequency and large scale, and where the bank slope produced lower seat deformation and dislocated berm. Moreover, in water level decline stage, bank slope crept along the sliding surface as a whole.