Prolonged rainfall increases stress on river levees, causing which failure mode when shear strength decreases?

💡 Explanation

When shear strength decreases due to saturation weakening cohesive forces leading to increased pore water pressure, piping occurs because internal erosion forms channels undermining the levee structure. Therefore, piping is the result rather than changes in sediment deposition, biological/chemical weathering which are influenced by factors outside levee core stability.

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