CE466.

3
Modeling of Earth Structures
Earth Dams
Part One

Contents
Historic developments
Components of an earth dam
Main design considerations
Foundation design considerations
Control of seepage through earth dams
 Historic developments
• One of the earliest earth dams • The scale of work at Padavil dam
was constructed at Sadd-El- was not exceeded until modern
Katara in Egypt (circa 4800 times and until the birth of soil
BC). It was 12 m high and had mechanics in the early 20th
two rubble walls 36 m apart and
century, the design of earth dams
24 m thick at the base with the
space in between filled with remained empirical.
random materials. • Due to a lack of clear
• There are thousands of ancient understanding of their behaviour,
earth dams in central and earth dams were kept to modest
southern India, most of them heights. It was not until 1925 that
centuries old and still in use. the US Bureau of Reclamation
• Some of the ancient earth dams constructed an earth dam
were huge. For example, the exceeding 40 m in height.
Padavil dam completed in Sri
• At present, earth dams as high as
Lanka in 504 BC was 18.5 km
long, 21.4 m high with a crest 335 m are being constructed and
width of 8 m and base width of some of these magnificent earth
61 m. It used 13 million m3 of structures are resting on rather
earthwork. poor foundations.
 Highest earth dams
(Statistics compiled in 1995)

Project Name Max. Height Status

(m)
Rogun, Russia 335 Under construction
Boruca, Costa Rica 302 Under planning
Nurek, Russia 300 Completed
Watana, USA 270 Under planning
Chicoasen, Mexico 262 Completed
Mica, Canada 262 Completed
Tehri, India 261 Under construction
Guavio, Colombia 240 Under construction
Chivor, Colombia 237 Completed
Oroville, USA 236 Completed
 Earth dam – Main components
• Foundation –
supports the dam
and restricts
seepage.
• Cutoffs – reduce
seepage through
the foundation.
• Blanket – used in
place of cutoff if
the foundation
layer is very deep.
• Core – controls
seepage through
the dam.

• Filters – prevent particle migration • Freeboard – prevents overtopping

and subsequent piping. and provides storage
• Shells – provide gravity fill and • Rip-rap – prevents wave and water
structural support. erosion.
• Crest – provides access to the dam
and increases stability.
 Earth dam vs. other types of dams
• When compared with other types of Construction costs (unit price/m)
dams such as a concrete gravity dam
or a rockfill dam, earth dam turns Year Earth Concrete Rockfill
out to be the most economical. dam dam dam
• This can be seen from the table on 1900 $0.50 $8.5 $2.00
top right showing the construction 1955 $0.60 $20-30 $2.50
costs for the three types of dams.
Clearly, earth dam is the cheapest to 1962 $0.80 $20-30 $3.00
construct. 2000 $2-3 $100 $5-10
• The volume of construction material
required for an earth dam is the
greatest but despite this, it is Type of Volume Cost per Total
cheaper to construct an earth dam dam unit Cost
as shown in the table on bottom volume
right comparing the material costs Concrete 0.4H2 $20 8H2
per unit volume for the three types
of dams. Rockfill 1.85H2 $2 3.7H2
• A rockfill dam can be an attractive Earthfill 3.0H2 $1 3H2
option if an abundant source of
rockfill (e.g. a quarry) is located Note: The volume is proportional to the
base width of the dam.
nearby.
 Earth dams – Main design considerations

• The earth dam must be water • The earth dam must be

tight to a reasonable extent. economical to build.
– This requirement depends on the – A cost vs. benefits study is
value of water that is being undertaken prior to the design of
retained in the reservoir the earth dam to make sure that it
compared with the cost of is worth constructing an earth dam
improving the water tightness of at the chosen site.
the earth dam. – Successful implementation of this
requirement depends mainly on
• The earth dam should have
the availability of good-quality
adequate stability against failure construction materials near the site
for its entire lifespan. of the dam.
– This requirement depends on the
• The damage to the environment
quality of site investigation prior
to design and on the quality
and the ecosystem present at the
control exercised during the site of the earth dam should be
construction of the earth dam. minimal.
– In an increasingly competitive – This requirement is probably the
construction market, this toughest to implement and
requirement is becoming hard to increasingly, more and more dam
implement. projects are scrapped because this
requirement cannot be fulfilled.
 Main causes of earth dam failures
• The table on the right shows the
Cause of failure Percent
various causes of dam failures
compiled in 1953 by Middlebrooks.
Overtopping 30
• It is worth noting that a large
percentage of dams in Seepage effects, 25
Middlebrooks’ list were constructed piping, sloughing
before rational design procedures
Slope slides 15
were established.
• Despite this, overtopping due to Conduit leakage 13
insufficient spillway capacity was
Damage to slope 5
the main cause of failure. Slope
paving
slides accounted for only 15
percent of the failures. Miscellaneous 7
• Criteria for safe design of an earth
Unknown 5
dam should cover all possible
causes of failure. [after Middlebrooks, 1953]
 Criteria for safe design of earth dams
1. There should be no risk of 3. The possibility of piping through
overtopping of the dam section. the embankment or its foundation
The most important aspect of this should be minimum. Piping is
criterion is the estimation of the caused by removal of soil particles by
design flood and the provision of fast-flowing water. Excessive piping
sufficient freeboard to protect the may lead to the formation of conduits
dam crest against wave splash. within the dam and subsequent
Two key parameters are the failure. Carefully designed filters help
maximum probable flood and in reducing the seepage forces and
the maximum settlement of the prevent piping.
embankment. 4. There should be no free flow of
2. Seepage line should be well water from the upstream to the
within the downstream face of downstream face. Free flow implies
the dam section. Seepage water flowing under pressure from
occurring at the downstream face cracks or passages or conduits and
will result in sloughing or softening not seepage flow through pores. Once
of the downstream face and a concentrated leak starts, it enlarges
subsequent failure. It can be rapidly and is almost impossible to
controlled by providing drainage plug. Good compaction control and
blankets or by intercepting seepage minimizing differential settlements
within the dam using, for example, can minimize occurrence of free flow.
chimney drains. Continues on the next page
 Criteria for safe design (continued…)

5. The upstream and the downstream faces of the earth dam

should be safe against sliding under the most critical
conditions to which they might be subjected. These conditions
include excess pore pressures at the end of construction, rapid
draw-down of the reservoir, earthquake loading.
6. Foundation shearing stresses should be less than the shear
strength of the foundation. In other words, the foundation
should be of adequate bearing capacity. This can be established by
conducting a stress analysis (we did this using SIGMA/W).
Foundation must be improved prior to the construction of the earth
dam if it has insufficient bearing capacity.
7. The upstream and the downstream faces must be protected
from erosion. The upstream face will be subject to hydrodynamic
wave loading from the reservoir and therefore, it should be
protected using rock riprap or stone pitching. The downstream face
may also experience erosion due to heavy rainfall and adequate
measures should be taken to prevent its erosion.
 Foundation design considerations
• The foundation of an earth dam must • Nγ varies from about 10 to 100 for
satisfy two contradicting criteria – granular materials of different
support the dam and control the densities. Since B must be greater
underseepage. than 2H from the consideration of
• A fractured rock would provide slope stability, F is usually greater
adequate support but would not be than 5.
watertight and contribute to uplift • The only cohesionless soils that are
pressures on the base of the dam. not suitable as foundation material
• Most rocks and cohesionless soils are loose, saturated sands and silts
(sands and gravels) are excellent in under artesian pressures or which,
providing support. under dynamic loading (e.g.
• For cohesionless soils, the safety earthquake) may suddenly liquefy.
factor of embankment can be • Weak rocks such as Cretaceous
estimated as: shales are also not suitable because
of the presence of swelling minerals
F = Nγ B 4 H (e.g. smectite). These rocks can
absorb large quantities of water and
where B and H are the base width undergo considerable softening,
and height, respectively and Nγ is a causing progressive lateral
bearing capacity factor related to movements.
angle of internal friction φ’.
 Foundation design (continued…)

• Cohesive soils, on the other hand,

are usually troublesome and often Earth dam
will only support embankments of
modest height. Berm
• The factor of safety of an
embankment on a cohesive soil is
estimated as:
Cohesive soil
F = 5su γH
where su is the undrained shear
strength of the cohesive soil and γ is
the unit weight of the embankment. • Stabilizing berms can be used to
• Even a stiff clay with an average su extend the limiting height of the
of 100 kPa would have a limiting embankment as shown above.
capacity of about 25 m of • An extra meter of embankment
embankment height. height can be achieved for each
meter height of the berm.
 Seepage control measures
• Control of seepage through an • In the first approach, an
earth dam as well as through its impervious zone (core) or an
foundation can be implemented impervious membrane is
in two ways. provided in the embankment.
• The first way is preventive • For foundations, commonly used
while the second way is preventive measures are cut-off
curative. These two trenches, grout curtains,
approaches are generally concrete diaphragm walls, sheet
combined when constructing an piles and impermeable upstream
earth dam. blankets.
• The first approach involves • The requirement in the second
keeping the water out as far approach is a drainage system
as possible (or reduction in such that seepage forces will not
quantity of seepage). be able to cause soil migration
• The second approach is aimed and their magnitude and
at providing a safe outlet to direction will be such that they
water which has entered the soil cannot cause embankment
in spite of the measures taken sliding or sloughing or
in the first approach. foundation blowout.
 The impervious core
• The core is an impervious barrier • High compacted density is desirable
built within an earth dam and is since it improves shear strength of
surrounded by the shell material that the core material, reduces its
provides overall stability to the dam. permeability and improves its
• It may consist of natural erosion resistance.
unprocessed materials in a wide • Soils of high compressibility should
range of particle sizes as long as be avoided as excessive settlements
sufficient fines are present to keep and cracking of the core can occur.
the permeability low. Also, highly compressible materials
• From the selection of core material, generate large excess pore pressures
important properties to be during compaction.
considered are: • A flexible material is less likely to
– Permeability crack when deformed. Granular
– Compacted density materials do not retain open crack
– Shear strength when deformed but they are too
– Compressibility permeable to be used as core. Fine-
– Overall structural flexibility grained soils of low plasticity are too
prone to cracking. Flexibility
• Low values of permeability can be
improves with plasticity for a clayey
obtained using materials with
soil.
sufficient clay and silt content.
 Flexibility of the core
• Although flexibility improves with
increasing plasticity, so does the 2 2
compressibility. Therefore, a
balance has to be struck. 3
• The placement moisture content
(PMC) during compaction plays an
important role in balancing the
flexibility and compressibility.
1
• Rajcevic (1970) has suggested the
use of three different PMC values
depending on the location of the
core material within the dam. Core Plasticity
Rajcevic’s recommendations
• His recommendations are shown
graphically in the figure on top • Near the crest, close to the two
right. abutments, he recommends PMC 3
• He recommends high plasticity in to 6% above the plastic limit. This is
the foundation cover (zone 1) with the portion of the core that is most
PMC 10% above the plastic limit likely to crack (zone 2).
for the material. This portion of • For the rest of the core, he
core must never crack as the recommends PMC close to the plastic
pressure heads are quite high in limit (zone 3).
this zone.
 Other core materials
• Although soil by far is the most
commonly used core material,
other materials have also been Wave wall
used for the construction of core. Grouted
• Asphalt, not very different from rockfill
the one used for the construction Riprap core
of road pavements, has been
used as a core material in France.
• Here, the hot asphalt mix is Rockfill Grouting
poured into a steel formwork gallery
sandwiched between the shell
material. As the height of the dam
increases, the formwork is raised,
leaving the asphalt core in place.
• Another type of core, consisting • Here, the rockfill can be placed as the
of no-fines rockfill with voids filled construction of the embankment
by a foam grout has also been progresses and grout injections can be
tried in France. The foam grout made at a time convenient to the
includes cement, silicate of soda construction schedule from a grouting
and detergent. gallery as shown in the figure above.
 Location of core in dam section

• The core can be located in one of

the three positions within the
dam section (see figure on the
right):
– Central (a) Central core
– Moderately slanting Stable
slope
– Slanting
Advance
• Provision of a slanting core rockfill
results in faster rate of
construction and a much steeper
(b) Moderately slanting core
downstream face of the dam.
• However, the upstream face has Stable
to be much flatter for a slanting slope
core and there are potential Advance
stability problems in case of a rockfill
rapid draw-down. (c) Slanting core
 Drainage provisions in an earth dam
• Drainage of an earth dam, • Downstream free-draining shell is
however odd it sounds, is useful only when its permeability is
necessary since whatever water 100 to 1000 times greater than the
enters should get a safe exit permeability of the core material.
without the built up of excess • Rock toe protects the most critical
pore water pressures in the section of the dam in terms of
dam. seepage instability by providing
• While allowing the safe exit to controlled outlet to the seeping
water, care should be taken to water. Usual arrangement of the
make sure that soil particles are rock toe is shown below.
not dislodged and removed by
the seeping water. Downstream face
of the dam
• Drainage of an earth dam can be
accomplished by: Filter

– Downstream free-draining shell

– Rock toe
– Horizontal drainage blanket
– Chimney drain (vertical or Coarse drain Rock toe
slanted)
 Horizontal drains

Horizontal drain

• A horizontal drain, due to its • However, if the horizontal

high permeability, offers permeability of the dam material
incentive to the phreatic line to is much higher than the vertical
pass through it rather than the permeability, the incentive for
downstream slope of the earth the phreatic line to pass through
dam as shown in the figure horizontal drain is diminished
above. because water can easily flow in
• Horizontal drains are normally horizontal direction. In such
used for homogenous earth situations, fairly long horizontal
dams of low to moderate height. drains are required.
 Chimney drains
Pervious
Chimney shell Chimney
drain drain

Impervious
shell

Chimney drain in a homogenous earth dam Chimney drain next to a slanting core

Chimney Chimney
drain drain
Pervious Pervious
shell shell
Cut-off
Chimney drain next to impervious central core trench

• Chimney drains intercept all Chimney drain next to a cut-off trench

layers of the dam section and
thus prevent seepage on the • Chimney drains also help reduce
downstream slope even for the draw-down effects and excess
case of higher horizontal pore pressures during the
permeability. construction of the dam.
• Typical configurations of • Chimney drains should be
chimney drains are shown in the protected on both sides by
figure above. filters.
Design of transition filters D15 size particles
of the filter
• The design of filters has to satisfy
two contradicting requirements: Soil protected
– The soil particles from the protected by filter
zone must not pass through the
pores of the filter. This limits the
maximum size of the filter material.
– The filter should be that much more
permeable than the protected
material as to provide effective
relief to hydraulic pressure inside
that zone. This limits the minimum Filter
size of the filter material.
• Design criteria proposed by Nominal boundary
Terzaghi has been found to be stabilization under seepage
suitable for the design of transition
filters in earth dams.
(D15 )FILTER < 4 to 5 &
(D15 )FILTER > 4 to 5
• Terzaghi’s criteria:
(D85 )PROTECTED ZONE (D15 )PROTECTED ZONE
• After the commissioning of the dam, a finer fraction will penetrate a
small thickness of the filter layer as shown in the figure above but
subsequently, the coarser fraction of the protected soil itself will
prevent further migration.