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Seepage and Stability Analyses of Earth Dam Using Finite Element Method

Article · December 2015


DOI: 10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.110

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ScienceDirect
Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER RESOURCES, COASTAL AND OCEAN


ENGINEERING (ICWRCOE 2015)

Seepage and Stability Analyses of Earth Dam Using Finite Element


Method
Shivakumar S. Athania*, Shivamantha, C. H. Solankia and G. R. Dodagoudarb
a
S V National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395007, India.
b
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

Abstract

Dams are mainly constructed of earth and rock-fill materials and hence they are generally referred to as embankment dams or
fill-type dams. Earth-fill dams are simple structures which are able to prevent the sliding and overturning because of their self
weight. Due to lack of suitable clay materials, sometimes the dams are designed as zoned core that is composed of three vertical
zones including central impermeable core and two permeable shells on either sides of the core. A failure of earth dam is
attributed to the following: hydraulic failure, seepage failure, piping through dam body and structural failure due to earthquake.
The design and construction of an earth-fill dam is one of the key challenges in the field of geotechnical engineering, because of
the unavoidable variation in foundation condition and the properties of the available construction materials. A homogeneous
earth-fill dam should be designed with relatively flat slopes to reduce the risk of failure. The practical seepage problems are not
easily convertible into an equivalent numerical counterpart because of the heterogeneity of the natural soils and the varying
boundary conditions. The role of drainage system is also vital as it shifts the phreatic surface ensuring the safety of downstream
toe. This paper presents the results of seepage and stability analyses of the considered earth dam using finite element method.
The seepage analysis is divided into two categories viz. Steady state and Transient analyses. Based on the parametric sensitivity
analysis, both the seepage and stability studies have brought out the importance of considering the coupled effects on the overall
stability of the earth dam. It is concluded that the coupled analysis is a prerequisite for the design and performance evaluation of
the earth dam under all conditions of seepage and stability. The study shows that increase in the Young's modulus of core and
shell resulted in the decrease of the maximum crest displacement and the variation in angle of internal friction plays a vital role in
the fulfilment of the overall stability criteria. The slope of 1V:2.5H was adopted for both the downstream and the upstream sides.
The factor of safety (FS) was greater than 1.6 for both the full (high) reservoir condition and low reservoir condition whereas, the
FS values were found to be less than the stipulated values for the other stability considerations.
© 2015
© 2015TheTheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Publishedbyby Elsevier
Elsevier B.V.B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +917411301268


E-mail address: shivyanix@gmail.com

2214-241X © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
doi:10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.110
Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883 877

Keywords: Earth dam; Zoned core; Phreatic surface; Steady state; Transient analysis; Stability; Finite Element Method.

1. Introduction

There are several models which are mainly dependent on the pressure or the water head. There exists no strict
interface between air and water in the seepage area as there is always presence of capillary fringe for an instance
considered. Because of this fact there will be rapid variation in the degree of saturation in the transition region which
is formed as there is no perfectly defined geometrical surface along the so called seepage surface, considered on the
upstream face of the earth dam (Fu and Jin, 2009).

Nomenclature

γ unit weight of soil (kN/m3)


μ Poisson's ratio
ψ angle of dilatancy
φ' angle of internal friction
c' cohesion (kN/m2)
k coefficient of permeability (m/day)
S'u undrained shear strength
E c, E s Young's modulus of core and shell respectively (MPa)
FS factor of safety
|u| total hypothetical displacement

The partial differential equation which governs the seepage through a heterogeneous, anisotropic, saturated-
unsaturated soil can be derived based on the principle of conservation of mass for a representative volume under
consideration (Thieu et al., 2001). During a transient process if the total stresses remain constant, the differential
equation for the three dimensional transient case can be written as

߲ ߲݄ ߲ ߲݄ ߲ ߲݄ ߲݄
൬݇‫ ݔ‬൰ ൅ ൬݇‫ ݕ‬൰ ൅ ൬݇‫ ݖ‬൰ ൌ ݉ߛ ൬ ൰
߲‫ݔ‬ ߲‫ݔ‬ ߲‫ݕ‬ ߲‫ݕ‬ ߲‫ݖ‬ ߲‫ݖ‬ ߲‫ݐ‬

where, h is the pressure head causing the flow, and kx, ky and kz are the coefficients of permeability in x-, y- and z-
directions respectively. The necessary modifications can be made in the above equation if it is to be derived for the
case of homogeneous soil deposits:

߲ ߲݄ ߲ ߲݄
൬݇‫ ݔ‬൰ ൅ ൬݇‫ ݕ‬൰ ൌ Ͳ
߲‫ݔ‬ ߲‫ݔ‬ ߲‫ݕ‬ ߲‫ݕ‬

The above equation is used for cases of homogeneous soil deposits and in anisotropic media. In case of steady
seepage analysis the only independent quantity which is to be defined is the coefficient of permeability and the m
(water storage i.e., slope of the soil-water characteristic curve) term vanishes.

2. Scope of the study

The paper presents the results of finite element modelling of the stability and seepage analyses of the earth dam
using PLAXIS 3D software. The analysis has incorporated the fully coupled effects and mainly considers the
interaction between the surface water and groundwater which forms the essential component of the coupled analysis
(Freeze, 1971; Zhou and Li, 2011). The two main parameters which were varied in the study to indentify the
changes in the stability of the earth dam are the Young's modulus (E) and angle of internal friction (φ). The stability
878 Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883

of the dam has been checked for the following conditions:


o Full (High) reservoir level of the dam
o Rapid drawdown (RDD 1 and RDD2) in 5 and 10 days duration
o Slow drawdown in 50 days duration and
o Low water level of the dam.
The primary purpose and overall safety of the dam play a vital role in the design criteria. Moreover, every design
criteria must fulfil the following fundamental design aspects (Li and Desai, 1983):
o Stability of embankment and foundation under critical conditions such as earthquake and flood
o Control of seepage and pressure in both the embankment and foundation
o Safety measures to control overtopping situation
o Erosion control methods.
However, the seepage plays one of the deciding factors for the overall safety of the dam, hence the present study is
attempted to address the same.

3. Input Parameters

Table 1. presents the soil properties used in the finite element analysis of the earth dam.

Table 1. Soil Properties


Parameters Shell Subsoil Core
Model Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb

Type Drained Drained Undrained (b)

γ (unsaturated and saturated) 16, 20 17, 22 16, 18

E' and μ 50E3, 0.33 200E3, 0.25 25E3, 0.3

c', S'u 5, - 1, - -, 10

φ', ψ 30, 1 35, 5 -, -

k 0.2 0.01 1E-4

The parametric study was also carried out by varying the parameters: E' and φ', wherein the E' values of the shell
and core were varied without altering the E' value of the subsoil. The φ' was varied from 30o to 35o. The flow
functions were different for each of the cases considered viz. Full (high) reservoir level of the dam, Rapid drawdown
in 5 and 10 days duration, Slow drawdown in 50 days and Low water level of the dam.
The representative earth dam which was considered for the finite element analysis was 35 m in height with the
side slope of 1 in 2.5 on both the upstream and downstream sides, with 30 m deep subsoil. The high reservoir level
was 30 m high along with 10 m groundwater. Suitable hydraulic boundary conditions were assigned to the upstream
side, before the start of upstream face and the last portion of the subsoil part. Figure 1 shows the earth dam section
considered in the study. The finite element mesh is depicted in Figure 2.
Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883 879

Fig. 1. Model considered for the study Fig. 2. Meshed model

4. Results and Discussion

The results of the finite element analyses are depicted in Figures 3 – 21. Figure 3 shows the variation of normal
stress in the body of earth dam and the subsoil. The variation of the normal strain is depicted in Figure 4 and active
pore pressure in Figure 5. The displacement contours are shown in Figure 6.

Fig. 3. Normal stresses Fig. 4. Normal strains

Fig. 5. Active pore water pressure Fig. 6. Displacement contours


880 Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883

Stability results are expressed in the form factor of safety (FS) for all the cases (Figures 7 – 18). The FS values
are shown along the y-axis. The displacement shown along the x-axis in all the above figures is the total
hypothetical one, which does not have any physical meaning. In the figures, HR stands for high reservoir level and
LL stands for low water level. The angles of internal friction of 30 and 35 q are shown in the figures.

2.00 1.40
1.20
1.50 1.00
0.80
1.00 30 HR 30 RDD2
0.60
35 HR 0.40 35 RDD2
0.50
0.20
0.00 0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 7. Variation of FS for full reservoir condition: Fig. 8. Variation of FS for rapid drawdown (RDD2) condition:
Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 195 MPa Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 195 MPa

2.50 1.40
2.00 1.20
1.00
1.50 0.80
30 HR 30 RDD2
1.00 0.60
35 HR 0.40 35 RDD2
0.50
0.20
0.00 0.00
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 9. Variation of FS for full reservoir condition: Fig. 10. Variation of FS for rapid drawdown (RDD2) condition:
Ec = 64 MPa and Es = 128 MPa Ec = 64 MPa and Es = 128 MPa
1.20 1.60
1.00 1.40
1.20
0.80
1.00
0.60 30 RDD1 0.80 30 Slow
0.40 0.60
35 RDD1 35 Slow
0.40
0.20
0.20
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.00 0.50 1.00
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 11. Variation of FS for rapid drawdown (RDD1) condition: Fig. 12. Variation of FS for slow drawdown condition:
Ec = 40 MPa and Es = 80 MPa Ec = 40 MPa and Es = 80 MPa
Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883 881

1.60 2.50
1.40
2.00
1.20
1.00 1.50
0.80 30 Slow 30 LL
0.60 1.00
0.40 35 Slow 35 LL
0.50
0.20
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 0.00 2.00 4.00
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 13. Variation of FS for slow drawdown condition: Fig. 14. Variation of FS for low reservoir condition
Ec = 25 MPa and Es = 50 MPa Ec = 25 MPa and Es = 50 MPa

2.50 1.20

2.00 1.00
0.80
1.50
30 HR 0.60 30 Slow
1.00
35 HR 0.40 35 Slow
0.50
0.20
0.00 0.00
0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 0.00 100.00 200.00 300.00
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 15. Variation of FS for full reservoir condition: Fig. 16. Variation of FS for slow drawdown condition:
Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 204.8 MPa Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 204.8 MPa

1.02 1.20
1.00 1.00
0.98
0.96 0.80
0.94
30 RDD1 0.60 30 RDD2
0.92
0.90 0.40
35 RDD1 35 RDD2
0.88
0.86 0.20
0.84 0.00
0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 0.00 100.00 200.00 300.00 400.00 500.00
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 17. Variation of FS for rapid drawdown (RDD1) condition: Fig. 18. Variation of FS for rapid drawdown (RDD2) condition:
Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 204.8 MPa Ec = 102.4 MPa and Es = 204.8 MPa

It is seen from all the figures that the pattern of variation of FS with respect to change in φ' remained the same
for different values of Young’s modulus values. When the Es exceeded the value of Young’s modulus of subsoil, the
increase in the value of φ' resulted in the decrease of FS values only for both the rapid drawdown (RDD1 and
RDD2) conditions.
882 Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883

25 1500

Effective Stress σzz


20
Displacement (mm)

15 1000
10
500
5
0
0
-5 0 100 200 300
0 50 100 150 200 250
Young's Modulus (E') Young's Modulus (E')
Fig. 19.(a) Displacement v/s E' Fig. 19.(b) Effective stress v/s E'

Fig. 19. (a) and (b)] shows the variation of displacement and effective stress with respect to E' for the same
number of iterations for various cases mentioned above. Whenever the E s approaches the value of Young’s modulus
of subsoil, there is a sudden heave in the observation.
From Fig. 20. and Fig. 21., it can be clearly seen that the increase in the value of FS soared with the increase in
φ'.

2.00 2.50
1.80
1.60 2.00
1.40 HR HR
1.20 1.50
LL LL
1.00
0.80 Slow 1.00 Slow
0.60 RRD2 RDD2
0.40 0.50
0.20 RRD1 RDD1
0.00 0.00
0.00 5.00 10.00 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00
|u| (m) |u| (m)
Fig. 20. FS for all conditions with φ' = 30q, Fig. 21. FS for all conditions with φ' = 35q,
Ec = 25 MPa and Es = 50 MPa Ec = 25 MPa and Es = 50 MPa

5. Conclusions

o The values of FS evaluated using PLAXIS are more reliable as compared to the limit equilibrium method. In
PLAXIS, it is easy to undertake the parametric sensitivity studies.
o The FS values reduced considerably during quicker drawdown (i.e., rapid drawdown in 5 days duration, RDD1)
followed by the drawdown in 10 days duration (RDD2). It is always mandatory to analyze the section for the
drawdown as there are every chances of development of excess pore water pressure because of the sudden
change in the water level, but phreatic surface cannot change rapidly.
o The FS is found to be greater than 1.6 for both the full (high) reservoir condition and low reservoir condition. For
other conditions, the FS values are found to be less than the stipulated values.
o Increase in the values of φ' and Es (i.e., greater than the Young’s modulus of subsoil) resulted in reduction of FS
for both short period drawdown conditions (i.e., RDD1 and RDD2). This is in contrast with the slow drawdown
condition.
o As the Es approached the value of Young’s modulus of subsoil, there was a sudden jump in the displacement for
the same number of iterations and the same was also observed for the variation of effective stresses.
Shivakumar S. Athani et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 876 – 883 883

References

Fu, J.F. and Jin, S. 2009. A Study on Unsteady Seepage Flow through Dam. Journal of Hydrodynamics 21(4), 499-
504.
Thieu, N.T.M., Fredlund, M.D., Fredlund, D.G. and Hung, V.R., 2001. Seepage Modelling in a
Saturated/Unsaturated Soil System. International Conference on Management of Land and Water Resources,
MLWR, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Freeze. A.R., 1971. Three Dimensional, Transient, Saturated-Unsaturated Flow in a Groundwater Basin. Water
Resources Research 7(2), 347-366.
Zhou, Y. and Li, W., 2011. A Review of Regional Groundwater Flow Modelling. Geoscience Frontiers 2(2), 205-
214.
Li, G.C. and Desai, C.S., 1983. Stress and Seepage Analysis of Earthen Dams. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
ASCE 109, 946-960.
PLAXIS 3D-2013. Tutorial Manual, Delft, The Netherlands.

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