Multiscale Analysis of Seepage Failure Mechanisms in Gap-Graded Soils Using Coupled CFD-DEM Modeling

Seepage erosion around sheet pile walls represents a critical failure mechanism in geotechnical engineering, yet the underlying mechanisms governing the onset of erosion remain poorly understood. This study presents a comprehensive multi-scale investigation employing a coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-discrete element method (DEM) to elucidate the onset mechanisms of seepage erosion in gap-graded soils with varying the fines content under different hydraulic gradients. The results demonstrate that increasing the fines content enhances the overall erosion resistance, as evidenced by reduced particle mobilization and eroded mass ratio. Particle tracking analysis reveals that the fines content fundamentally influences the spatial distribution of the erosion. Specimens with low fines content exhibit distributed erosion throughout the domain, while specimens with higher fines content show concentrated erosion around the sheet pile wall and downstream regions. Micromechanical analysis of local contact fabric and contact forces indicates that this spatial heterogeneity stems from the mechanical coordination number and mechanical redundancy, characterized by the reduced magnitudes of these parameters for the region with lower erosion resistance. These findings establish that the fines content governs both global erosion resistance and spatial erosion patterns, providing essential insights for optimizing soil gradation design and advancing fundamental understanding of seepage erosion mechanisms.