Movement of Water on The Soil: Teaching by the Use of Physical Models

Abstract

Dams, embankments, roads, and other structures are subject to stress changes due to pore pressure, which can lead to instability and even failure. Considering the need to understand the processes that act on these structures and the difficulty often encountered by students in visualizing the action of water and its movement in the soil, this paper aims to present the practical activities developed in the Soil Mechanics Department of the Civil Engineering Course of the State University of Minas Gerais - João Monlevade, Brazil, which dealt with the movement of water in soil structures and discussed the design and stability aspects of these. One of objectives was to develop the student's protagonism through direct involvement in the design and execution of the physical  model of earth and tailing dams. This topic is crucial for geotechnical engineering and even more so for the region where João Monlevade is located, as several iron mining companies use tailings dams and earth structures. The execution of the model by the students was preceded by theoretical discussions on aspects such as the Darcy´s law, hydraulic head, the types and characterization of soil and tailings, pore pressure and your influence of the safety factor. These activities were developed in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. As a result, a learning gain was achieved because the models were developed on a small scale by the students, who personally checked the variation of the parameters of the materials and water in the experiments.