Abstract:

Yaodi levee of Hanjiang River is a national first-class embankment, serving as an important flood control barrier safeguarding the Hanbei Plain and Wuhan City. The Lijiazhou levee of Tianmen City is a historical danger section, with a series of piping dangers occurred in this section of the Hanjiang River during the autumn flood season of 2021. A new design of relief well was applied to treat hidden danger of piping in 2022. A three-dimensional seepage model was established and the effect of relief well under different working conditions was analyzed for design. Simulation data shows that the relief well has a significant drainage and pressure reduction effect, and the permeability stability meets the requirements under flood conditions. No piping danger occurred during the 2023 flood period of the Hanjiang River when the flood level was 1.3 m higher than the flood level during 2021 in this embankment section. It indicates that the relief wells played a significant role in flood control and disaster reduction. Practical application shows that relief well is one of the most effective measures for typical pipe surge hazards of binary structure embankment foundation. This study provides references for dealing with similar levee pipe surge hazards.

Key words: pipe surge hazard, relief well, hazard remediation, seepage simulation, Yaodi levee of Hanjiang River