Centrifuge Modeling of River Bank Failures Due to Seepage Flow

A series of centrifuge model tests was carried out in an attempt to study river bank failures due to seepage flow. The necessity of centrifuge modeling and the similarity law were discussed. The results of the model tests showed that capillary tension above phreatic surface plays an important role in stability, and that there seems to exist a critical value of velocity of fluid flow to trigger an initial failure. An analytical model to simulate the development of failure was also proposed.