Implications of gas content for predicting the stability of submarine slopes |
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| Authors: | Robert C Kirby |
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| Institution: | Woodward‐Clyde Consultants , Clifton, New Jersey, 07012 |
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| Abstract: | Abstract The behavior of gas‐laden, soft submarine soils subjected to changes in mean normal and shearing stresses is discussed. Information developed for partially saturated soils is extended to soft sediments. Calculations indicating that gas‐laden submarine soils generally have degrees of saturation in situ that exceed ～ 90% are presented. Therefore, it is suggested that insignificant error is introduced in predicting the effective stresses of soft sediments using the standard effective stress equation and neglecting the pore‐gas pressure. The presence of gas is shown to permit volume changes of soft sediments under wave loadings. The compressibility of the gaswater pore fluid is quantified. The pore‐pressure response, related to the ratio of the compressibility of the pore fluid and soil structure, is shown to be similar to that of fully saturated soils. The relevance of “undrained”; shipboard tests to the prediction of slope stability is discussed. It is concluded that the presence of gas leads to undrained strengths, as measured on recovered samples, which are lower than those that occur in situ. The use of these measured strengths in stability calculations leads to conservative predictions of submarine slope stability. |
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