Sudden failure of an embankment resting on a clay soil that behaved as a fluid

J.J. Schmitter, S. Vázquez, R.V. Orozco, L. Reyes

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: Transportation Geotechnics

ABSTRACT: During construction of a high-specification highway section in a mountainous humid environment, when a side supported embankment was being built over the left side of a valley, a sudden failure of the supporting clay deposit occurred, causing a downhill sliding of the earth fill and of its clay foundation that behaved as a fluid.

RÉSUMÉ: Pendant la construction d´un tronçon d´autoroute de hautes spécifications dans une zone montagneuse humide, en être en train de conformer un terre-plein fien balconfl sur la pente gauche d´une vallée, se présenta une faille soudaine du terrain argileux où celui ci était appuyé, qui emporta dans son mouvement au cité terre-plein, en se comportant comme un liquide. 1 BACKGROUND At the central eastern part of the Mexican Republic, crossing the states of México, Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz, the Mexico City-Tuxpan toll road is being built that after being completed will shorten by almost 26 km the total length of 300 km that at present has to be traveled along the federal highway connecting Mexico City with the important port of Tuxpan in the Gulf of Mexico. Even more significant will be the reduction by almost 50% of the traveling time because the five-hour driving time required currently connecting both destination points will be reduced to two and a half hours. Taking into account the different topographic zones crossed by such turnpike, it can be arbitrarily subdivided in five stretches, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Sections of the Mexico City-Tuxpan toll road. Section Name End points 1 High plateau Mexico City - Tejocotal Lagoon 2 Mountain Tejocotal Lagoon - Nuevo Necaxa 3 Rugged sierra Nuevo Necaxa - Ávila Camacho 4 Gentle hills Ávila Camacho - Tihuatlán 5 Coastal plain Tihuatlán - Tuxpan As of to date (23th February 2011) the first two sections of the freeway have been completed and commissioned. For purposes of construction of the third section, high cuts, road tunnels, viaducts and the long stayed bridge of San Marcos are being built. The fourth section is under construction with additional cuts, embankments and bridges, having moderate heights. Finally, the fifth section will be developed in predominantly flat terrain. The federal highway that has connected since the beginning of the past century Mexico City with the port of Tuxpan passing by the historic hydroelectric power plant of Necaxa, has constantly endured serious traffic problems because there are only two lanes, one in each direction, and it follows an extremely winding alignment when crossing some mountainous stretches that are frequently covered by fog. With the new freeway it is intended to expedite moving of persons and cargo between the port of Tuxpan and Mexico City and at the same time connecting in its path numerous zones of major relevance such as the important petroleum zone of Poza Rica. 2 SECTION TEJOCOTAL-NUEVO NECAXA This stretch of the freeway that was recently commissioned has a total length of 17 km and a sustained downwards differential elevation of almost 800 m with a gradient close to 4%, linking the Tejocotal Lagoon, located at an elevation of about 2200 msnm (meters above mean sea level), in the state of Hidalgo, with the town of Nuevo Necaxa, not far from the city of Huauchinango, both of them lying at an elevation close to 1400 msnm, in the state of Puebla. Mention should be made that this section of the turnpike crosses a wooded area that receives heavy rainfall throughout the year and consequently several springs and water sources are generated. Because of the rough topography encountered in this stretch, it was necessary to build several bridges and viaducts, in addition to high cuts and embankments.

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