THE SANTANA PORT ACCIDENT: COULD IT BE A SENSITIVE CLAY FLOWSLIDE UNDER THE EQUATOR?

Sandro Sandroni, Serge Leroueil, Elaine Barreto

In the proceedings of: GeoQuébec 2015: 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference & 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

Session: Problematic Soils and Ground Improvement II / Sols problématiques et amélioration du comportement II

ABSTRACT: In March, 28, 2013, an abrupt slope movement involving about half a million cubic meters of soil took place at a Port situated in the North margin of the mouth of the Amazon river. Most of the soft clayey silt flowed under water for a distance of about 350 meters. After the accident a site and laboratory geotechnical testing program has been carried out. This paper is the first publication after the accident and intends to present: Ł Basic sequence and mechanism of failure; Ł Typical geotechnical characteristics of the soft soil Ł Preliminary analyses of the movement Ł Speculations on the cause of failure and on the factors that may have contributed to the sensitivity soil. The flow that followed failure is similar to those that occur in Canadian and Scandinavian highly sensitive clays. This kind of behavior in clayey soils does not seem to have precedents on the Brazilian coast or in any other tropical areas.

RÉSUMÉ: Le 28 mars 2013, s™est soudainement produit un glissement de terrain impliquant un demi-million de mètres cubes de sol dans un port situé sur la rive nord de l™embouchure du fleuve Amazone. Le gros du silt argileux mou, s™écoula sous l™eau sur une distance d™environ 350 mètres. Après l™accident, un programme d™essais de terrain et de laboratoire a été réalisé. Cet article est la première publication après l™accident et a l™intention de montrer: Ł Les principales séquences et le mécanisme de rupture. Ł Les caractéristiques géotechniques typiques du sol mou. Ł Des analyses préliminaires du mouvement. Ł Des spéculations sur la cause de la rupture et sur les facteurs qui ont contribué à la sensibilité du sol de Santana. La coulée qui a suivi la rupture est semblable à celles qui se produisent dans les argiles très sensibles canadiennes ou scandinaves. Ce type de comportement ne semble pas avoir de précédent sur les côtes du Brésil ou de n™importe quelle autre région tropicale.

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Cite this article:
Sandro Sandroni; Serge Leroueil; Elaine Barreto (2015) THE SANTANA PORT ACCIDENT: COULD IT BE A SENSITIVE CLAY FLOWSLIDE UNDER THE EQUATOR? in GEO2015. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{057,author = Sandro Sandroni; Serge Leroueil; Elaine Barreto,title = THE SANTANA PORT ACCIDENT: COULD IT BE A SENSITIVE CLAY FLOWSLIDE UNDER THE EQUATOR?,year = 2015}