ABSTRACT
The configuration of a horizontal fine soil layer above coarse soil layer has been much less studied (Schmitz, 2007, Guidoux, 2010) however it is a situation often found in fluvial dykes (Rhone and Rhine rivers for example). These structures are usually made of silty or clayey cores constructed above a gravelly foundation and submitted to horizontal seepages. The main difference with the pre-
1 INTRODUCTION
Contact erosion is a type of internal erosion which develops in earthen embankments at the contact between a layer of fine soil (clay, silt or sand) and a layer of coarse soil (coarse sand, gravel…) when subject to a tangential flow. Particles of the fine layer are detached at the interface and transported through the coarse soil layer.
