2.

3 DESIGN AND STABILITY ANALYSIS OF EARTHEN DAM

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Hydraulic Structures I
 2.3 DESIGN AND STABILITY ANALYSIS OF EARTHEN DAM
2.3.1 Introduction

→ Earthen dams are built of soil or rock-fill or both.

→ As soil and rock-fill are non-rigid materials, the embankment dams are called non-rigid dams.

→ The embankment dams are broadly classified as:

• Earth dams (mainly constructed from earth or soil)

• Rockfill dams (mainly constructed from rockfill or pieces of rocks)

• Composite dams (these are constructed from both soil and rockfill )

→ Earth dams can be constructed on almost all type of foundations, provided suitable measures are
taken.

→ They are more suitable than gravity dams if strong foundation at a reasonable depth is not
available at the site for the construction of gravity dams.
→ It is cheaper than gravity dams if the soil in abundant quantity is available near the site.

→ Rockfill dams require somewhat stronger foundation as compared to earth dams, but
need not to be strong as gravity dams.
 Embankment dam consists of three basic parts:
 shell,
 core and
 foundation.
 Additional appurtenances are may be present depending on type of dam.
 Transition filter

Water Core
1
2
Upstream impervious blanket
Cutoff wall
Pervious foundation
3

Impervious stratum
1. Foundation
→ Provides support both to vertical and horizontal load
→ Resist seepage underneath the embankment
2. Core
→ To reduce seepage of water through the embankment
→ Can be placed at the center or upstream from the center
→ It may extend to impervious stratum in pervious foundation materials.
 Earth (cheap)

Permeability (cm/s)
Gravel 1 to 100
Sand 1 to 10-3
Silt 10-3 to 10-5
Clay < 10-6

Concrete (less flexible)

3. Shell
 To provide structural support for the core and to distribute the load to foundation
 2.3.2 Classification of Earth Dams;
Earth dams can be divided into the three types based on the selection of the materials:

a. Homogenous Earth dams: usually composed only one material which is either semi- impervious
or impervious to limit seepage.

b. Zoned earth dam: it composes more than one type of soil.

→ It has a central impervious core flanked by shells of pervious material u/s and d/s side.

→ A transition filter is usually required b/n core and shell to prevent piping.

→ The central core is used to check seepage and is constructed from clay, silty clay or clayey
silt.

→ The pervious shell is used for stability and is constructed from sand, gravel, or mixture of
these.

→ The transition filter is used to prevent the migration of materials from the core to the
shell. The d/s transition filter is useful during steady seepage conditions and the u/s filter is
useful during sudden drawdown conditions.
The impervious core
 rolled clay
Concrete
The thickness of the core
at a given elevation exceeds the height of the dam above the elevation and is at
least 3 m thick
The size of the core is governed
Seepage control
Stability criteria
Availability of material
Generally they have relatively steep slopes
In a given dam site, if a variety of soil types are available, zoned embankment is preferable
as it will tend to be economical
C. Diaphragm Earthfill Dam
 Three zones: Upstream and downstream shell of permeable material
Thin diaphragm / Impermeable material
 Placed centrally / upstream
 Rolled clay, cement, concrete, bituminous
The dam is a diaphragm type
 If the thickness of the impervious core is < 3m
 At any elevation the thickness is less than the height above the elevation
Potential for cracking of the core due to differential movement induced by
Embankment consolidation
Reservoir level fluctuation
Non uniform foundation settlement

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 Clay diaphragm
 The construction of an internal earth diaphragm with the necessary filter requires
higher degree of precision
 Concrete diaphragm
 Internal diaphragm made of concrete is not available for inspection or emergency repair
if ruptured
 Earth blanket on upstream face for a pervious dam
 Expensive
 Constructing a filter at the u/s face is difficult
 To protect the blanket from wave action it is buried deep and can not be inspected
 If the availability of core material is so limited that zoned dam can not be constructed, a
diaphragm type is considered.

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 2.3.3 Methods of Construction
i. Rolled – Fill Method
→Soil borrowed from borrow pits are transported to dam site by trucks
→They are spread at embankment sites in thin layers of 15-30 cm by bulldozers
→ Water is sprayed from tanker trucks until optimum moisture is attained
→The soil is compacted by power operated rollers
ii. Hydraulic Fill Method
→ Soils are transported from the borrow pit by water
→Soil water mixture is pumped in to flumes laid at the edges of the dam
→ The flumes have openings at regular interval
→The soil water slurry flows out from these openings
→Coarse soils are deposited close to the edges
→Fine soils settles at the center
→Since the fill is saturated when placed, the procedure results in high pore water pressure.

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 2.3.4 Causes of Embankment Dams Failures
Dam Failure: The catastrophic breakdown of a dam, characterized by the uncontrolled release
of impounded water.
According to ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams), the various causes leading to
the failure of earth dams can be grouped in to the following three classes
Hydraulic failures
Seepage failures
Structural failures Other
5%

Hydraulic
Seepage (40%)
30%

Structural /
25%

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 Hydraulic Failures
 Accounts for some 40% of embankment dam failures. The main causes are
A. overtopping,
B. erosion of upstream face,
C. erosion of downstream face and
D. erosion of toe of the dam

A Overtopping of the Dam

 Overtopping is defined as uncontrolled flow of water over the crest of the dam or
embankment. Since the non-overflow (other than spillway) portions of a dam are not usually
designed for erosional effect of flowing water, overtopping may lead to failure of the dam due to
excessive erosion or saturation of the downstream slope.
 Main causes of overtopping
Underestimation of the design flood and inadequate spillway capacity
 Large and rapid landslides in the reservoir
 Insufficient free board
 Malfunction of spillway gates

 Measures
Appropriate design flood and adequate spillway capacity
Provide adequate freeboard

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B. Erosion of upstream face by wave action
 Cause
 When waves due to wind blowing over the impounded water crash on the upstream face of
the dam, the wave dislodges the embankment soils from the face.
Measure
 Protect the u/s face by rock riprap

C. Erosion of Downstream face by gully formation

 Causes
Heavy rains falling directly over the d/s face may lead to the formation of a moving water that
may erode the d/s face leading to the formation of gullies
 Measures
 Proper maintenance
 Filling the gullies periodically
 Grassing the slopes
 Constructing berms

D. Erosion of the Downstream Toe

 Two reasons for erosion of the d/s toe
 Due to the tailwater
 Cross currents from spillway buckets
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 Seepage Failure
 Accounts for some 30% of embankment dam failures.
 Embankment body and foundation are pervious. They act as pathways for water seepage. If
such seepage is uncontrolled in terms of volume and velocity, it may may lead to
 Piping (internal erosion)
Uplift
 Sloughing and subsequent failure of the dam
 Piping is the progressive erosion and subsequent removal of the soil grains from with in the
body of the dam or the foundation of the dam.
Sloughing is the progressive removal of soil from the wet downstream face.

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A. Piping through the foundation
→ Preferential flow of water in more porous part of the dam foundation especially through high
permeability regions, cavities, fissures or strata of sand and gravel.
→ The concentrated flow at hydraulic gradient may erode the soil
→ The increase flow results in formation of hollows
→ The dam may sink down in to the hollow so formed
B. Piping Through the Dam Body
→ When preferential flow of water occurs in the body of the dam, soil may be removed in the
same manner
→ Causes include
 faulty construction
 insufficient compaction
 cracks in the embankment
 due to foundation settlement
 animal borrows
 pipes and conduits inside the dam body
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C. Sloughing of downstream toe
→ The process is similar to piping

→ If the seepage line meets the downstream face, the dam toe softens due to saturation
below the point of emergence of seepage.

→ In addition, the soil particles are subjected to a drag force in the direction of flow.

→ The horizontal component of this drag force will tend to dislodge the soil particles if it exceeds
the resistance offered by the soil.

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 Structural Failures
Structural failures account for some 25 % of embankment dam failures.
A. Embankment Slope Failures
When the embankment slopes are too steep for the strength of the soil, this may cause
sliding failure
The most critical condition of slide
 for the d/s slope, it is when the reservoir is full.
 for the u/s slope, sudden drawdown of the reservoir

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B. Foundation Slide
→ When the foundation materials are made of silt, soft clay etc. The entire dam may slide over
the foundation. Fissured rocks, shales etc may exist under the dam and this may cause the
dam to slide.
→ In this type of failures, cracks first appear at the top.

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 2.3.5 Criteria for safe design of Embankment Dams
 An embankment dam must be stable and safe during all phases of construction and
operation of the reservoir. The practical criteria for the design of embankment dams may be
stated briefly as follows
A. No Hydraulic failure
 To prevent hydraulic failures the dam must be so designed that erosion of the embankment is
prevented. This implies that the following conditions are satisfied.
 Selection of appropriate design flood for the design of the spillway,
 Provision of Adequate spillway capacity: Spillway capacity is sufficient to pass the peak flood
without overtopping.
 Provision of sufficient freeboard: Overtopping by wave action at maximum water level is
prevented.
Erosion of the embankment due to wave action and surface run-off does not occur.
The crest should be wide enough to withstand wave action and earthquake shock.

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 B. No Seepage failure
 To prevent the seepage failures, the flow of water through the body of the dam and its
foundation must not be sufficiently large in quantity to defeat the purpose of the structure
nor at a pressure sufficiently high to cause piping. This implies that
→Quantity of seepage water through the dam section and foundation should be limited.
→No piping: Seepage water through the dam or foundation should not remove any particle
or in other words cause piping. The driving force depends upon the pressure gradient while the
resisting force depends upon the strength characteristics of the boundary material.
→The seepage line should be well within the downstream face of the dam to prevent
sloughing.
→ No leakage along conduits: There should not be any leakage of water from the upstream
to downstream face. Such leakage may occur through conduits, at joints between earth and
concrete sections or through holes made by aquatic animals.

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 The common type of drainage systems includes the following:

a) Drainage of the dam

i. Horizontal drainage blanket

ii. Rock toe

iii. Chimney drain

b) Drainage of the foundation

i. Toe drain

ii. Relief walls

iii. Vertical sand drains

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C. No Structural Failure
 To prevent structural failures, the embankment and its foundation must be stable under all
conditions. This implies that
 The upstream and downstream slopes of the embankment should be stable under
all loading conditions to which they may be subjected including earthquake.
 safe u/s and d/s slopes during construction
 safe u/s face during sudden drawdown
 safe d/s slope during steady seepage under reservoir full condition

The foundation shear stresses should be within the permissible limits of shear
strength of the material.

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 2.3.6 Preliminary section of an embankment dam
 The preliminary design of an embankment dam is done on the basis of past experiences
and on the basis of the dams built so far.

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i. Dam Height
It is governed by functional requirement.

ii. Top Width

 It depends on
 Width of the highway on top of the dam
 Practicability of construction
 Height of the structure
 Wide enough to keep the seepage line well with in the dam when the reservoir is full
 iii. Free Board

 It is the vertical distance between the crest of the dam and the reservoir level. It is
composed of allowances for waves and settlement of the dam

Allowance for Wave

 Various empirical formulae depending on wind velocity and reservoir fetch have been
suggested for computing wave heights. The Molitor Stevenson formulas are normally used
which

On a sloping surface the wave rides along the slope up to a vertical height of 1.5 times the
wave height above the reservoir level hence 1.5 hw is provided as freeboard.

According to U.S.B.R. criteria distinction is to be made between the normal and minimum
freeboards.
 Normal Free Board: crest level to full reservoir level
 Minimum Free Board: crest level to maximum water level
It is also recommended that freeboard shown in the Table be increased by 50 percent if a
smooth pavement is provided as protection on the upstream slope.

Allowance for Settlement

 Settlement of an embankment will be caused by consolidation in the foundation and in
the fill. A settlement allowance of 2% is considered adequate and is generally provided.
However, in case of dams of more than 30m height, an extra 1% allowance is provided to
account for the settlement due to earthquake.
 iv. Upstream and downstream slopes
 The upstream and downstream slopes depends on
 Height of dam
 Type of embankment material
 Type of Foundation material
 Terzaghiz side slopes for earth dams
 2.3.7 Loading Conditions for Embankment Dams

The stability of the upstream and downstream slopes of the dam embankment is analyzed
for the most critical or severe loading conditions that may occur during the life of the
dam. These loading conditions typically include:
1. End of Construction — when significant pore pressure development is expected either in
the embankment or foundation during construction of the embankment.

2. Steady-State Seepage — when the long-term phreatic surface within the embankment has
been established.

3. Rapid (or Sudden) Drawdown — when the reservoir is drawn down faster than the pore
pressures can dissipate within the embankment after the establishment of steady-state
seepage conditions.
4. Earthquake — when the embankment is subjected to seismic loading.