Graduate Research Assistant Jackson State University Jackson, Mississippi
This study assesses the impacts of precipitation load and infiltration on levee structure, along with the flood hydrograph on a Levee section at the Mississippi east levee system at Norfolk North of Mississippi. With the emerging climate change impact, the trend in precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency has been changing considerably. Coupled flow deformation and safety analysis were performed on the levee section using Finite Element Method (FEM) software PLAXIS 2D. Historical rainfall and flood hydrograph was used as an infiltration and seepage loading. Transient analysis was performed to investigate the temporal effect considering the unsaturated soil behavior of the levee. The geometry and site condition of the levee were determined by using LiDAR imaging and 2D Electrical Resistivity Imaging. With different infiltration conditions due to the historical rainfall, a factor of safety analysis was performed concurrently to determine the factor of safety of the levee slopes before and after the rainfall. This study gives insight into how a levee structure can be made climate-resilient utilizing the trend of historical analysis results. Incorporating historical precipitation loads and analyzing the stability condition will ensure the public safety of levees and help make the levees more resilient in different climate conditions.
