Earth Dam

Prepared By:
Md. Raquibul Hasan Rajib
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Pabna University of Science & Technology
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Section of an Earth Dam
1.Top Width
2.Free Board
3.Casing or outer shells
4.Central Impervious Core
5.Cut-off Trench
6.Downstream drainage system

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Components of a Earth Dam:

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Stacked riprap creates
interlocked blocks

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Top Width
1. The top width of the dam depends upon:
a) Construction material
b) Height of structure
c) Roadway

2. Empirical Formulae:
a) B = Z/5 +3 for very low
b) B = 0.55 Z1/2 + 0.2 Z for lower dams (<30m)
c) B = 1.65(Z+1.5)1/3 for higher dams (>30m)
Where Z = Height of dam

3. A minimum width of 6m is required for maintenance so that small trucks can operate on it
4. The berm may be provided for the dam, which are more than 10 m in height. Minimum berm
width may be kept as 3 m.

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Free Board
Free board is vertical difference between the horizontal crest of the
embankment and reservoir level.
Normal Free Board Top of the crest to normal reservoir level
Minimum Free Board Top of the crest to Maximum Reservoir Level
during floods

The USBR suggests:

Minimum of 2 m and maximum of 3 m over maximum flood level

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Casing or Outer Shells
1. The function of casing is to impart stability and protect the core.
2. The relatively pervious materials, which are not subjected to cracking
on direct exposure to atmosphere, are suitable for casing.
3. IS: 8826 – 1978 provides recommendations for suitability of soil used
for earth dams.

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Central Impervious Core
1. The core provides impermeable barrier within the body of the dam.
2. Impervious soils are generally suitable for the core (IS 1498 -1970). However soils
having high compressibility & liquid limit, and having organic contents may be avoided,
as they are prone to swelling & formation of cracks.

Following guidelines are recommended for design of core (for Small Dams)
1. The core may be located either centrally or inclined upstream.
2. The minimum top width should be kept 3 m
3. The top level of the core should be fixed at 0.5 m above MWL.
4. The side slopes may be kept 0.5:1 and 1:1.
5. Thickness of core at any section shall not be lesser than 30% (preferably not less than
50 percent) of maximum head of water acting at that section.

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Shell Core

Drain

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Cutoff Trench
1. To reduce loss of stored water through foundations and abutments
2. To prevent sub-surface erosion by piping.

The following guidelines may be adopted for design of cut off.

1. The cut off shall be located such that its centre line should be within the base of
impervious core and should be upstream of center line of dam.
2. The positive cut off should be keyed at least to a depth of 0.4 metre into continuous
impervious sub stratum or in erodible rock formation.
3. A minimum bottom width of 4.0 metre is recommended.
4. Side slopes of at least 1:1 or flatter may be provided in case of over burden while
1/2:1 and 1/4:1 may be provided in soft rock and hard rock respectively.
5. The cut off in the flanks on either side should normally extend up to the top of
impervious core.
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Downstream Drainage System
To ensure safety of dam, it is very important to handle the seepage water in the dam so as to maintain the original
particles of soils in their place.
The measures commonly adopted for safe disposal of seepage water through embankment dams are;
1. Toe drain Installed in oldest homogenous dams to prevent softening at d/s
2. Horizontal filter used in moderate high dams
3. Inclined or vertical filter (chimney filter) used in higher homogeneous dams
Purpose:
1. To reduce pore pressure in the downstream portion of the dame
2. To control piping failure
Generally, a multi-layer filter or inverted filter is provided in which subsequent layer becomes increasing coarser
than the previous one.
According to Terzaghi, the filter material should fulfill the following criteria:
1. D15 of filter / D85 base material > 4 and < 20
2. D15 of filter / D15 base material < 5
3. The gradation curve of the filter material should be nearly parallel to the gradation curve of the base material.
Note:
D15 is permeability protection limit,
D85 is piping predicting limit
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Seepage Analysis
Objective:
To estimate the quantity of seepage (rate of leakage) through dam using Flow Net

Assumptions:
1. Soil is homogeneous (Coefficient of permeability is constant everywhere)
2. Soil is isotropic (Coefficient of permeability is same in all directions)
3. Size of pore spaces do not change
4. Darcy’s law is valid (Flow is laminar) Q=kiA
5. Soil is completely saturated (Degree of saturation is 100%)
6. Hydraulic boundary conditions at entry and exit are known
7. During flow, volume of soil and water remains constant

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Flow Net
A flow net is a graphical representation of the paths taken by water in passing through soil.

Characteristics of Flow Net:

1. Flow lines represent flow paths of particles of water
2. Flow lines and equipotential line are orthogonal to each other
3. The area between two flow lines is called a flow channel
4. The rate of flow in a flow channel is constant (Δq)
5. Flow cannot occur across flow lines
6. An equipotential line is a line joining points with the same head
7. The velocity of flow is normal to the equipotential line
8. The difference in head between two equipotential lines is called the potential drop or head loss (Δh)
9. A flow line cannot intersect another flow line.
10. An equipotential line cannot intersect another equipotential line

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Seepage Rate through Isotropic Soil:

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Seepage Flow through Non-Isotropic Soils:
The flow-net for this transformed section is constructed in the same way as for the isotropic soils.

Kx = coefficient of permeability in
X-direction of the actual field of
anistropic soil

K’ = equivalent permeability of
transformed field.

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Plotting of Phreatic Line
Phreatic line is also known as the seepage line or saturation line. It is defined as an
imaginary line within the dam section, below which there is positive hydrostatic pressure,
and above there is negative hydrostatic pressure in the dam section. The hydrostatic
pressure represents the atmospheric pressure, which is equal to zero at the face of
phreatic line.

In order to draw flow net, it is first essential to find the location and shape of Phreatic line
or top flow line separating Saturated and Unsaturated Zones.

Phreatic line can be located by

1. Graphical Method or Casagrande Method
2. Analytic Method
3. Experimental Method
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The Casagrande method is used for deriving the phreatic line; the procedure is
described as under:

1. Let the phreatic line is assumed to be a base

parabola with its focus at point F, i.e. at the
starting point of the filter, FE
2. AB is the upstream face of the earth dam,
and L is the horizontal projection of face AB
on the water surface. Measure the distance
BC equal to 0.3 L. Take the point C as the
starting point of the base parabola.
3. For deciding the position of directrix of the
parabola, the theory which states that every
point of the parabola is at equidistance from
the focus as well as directrix, is used.
Hence, considering C as the centre and CF
as radius, an arc is drawn which cut the
horizontal line CB at point D. Since, CD =
CF, therefore, vertical line DH will be the
directrix of parabola.
4. The last point G of the parabola will fall at
the middle of the points F and H.
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 The Casagrande method is used for deriving the phreatic line; the procedure is
described as under (Contd.)
• The intermediate points of parabola are located on the
principle that their distance from the focus and
directrix are the same. Here, to locate the point P as an
intermediate point, a vertical line QP is drawn at any
distance x from point F. Now considering the distance
QH as radius with F as centre, an arc is drawn which
cuts the vertical line QP at point P.
• Now, all these obtained points are joined by free hand
to get the base parabola. However, this needs to be
corrected at the entry point for the feature that the
phreatic line must be stated from point B only, not
from C. It should be sketched perpendicular to the
upstream face AB, as it is 100 percent equipotential
line.
Now phreatic line is sketched by free hand in such a way
that, it should be perpendicular to face AB and meet to
the rest of the points of the parabola tangentially. In
addition, the base parabola should also be met
perpendicular to the downstream face of the dam at point
G. The view of phreatic line is shown in Fig.
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Seepage Control Measures
Seepage Control measures are required to prevent adverse effects of water percolating through
embankment and its foundation.

1. Embankment Seepage Control

a) Toe Filter
b) Horizontal Drainage Filter
c) Percolating Filter d/s of toe
d) Embankment Zoning
e) Chimney Drains extending upwards to embankment

2. Foundation Seepage Control

a) Impervious Cutoff
b) Upstream Impervious Blanket
c) D/s Seepage berms
d) Drainage Trenches
e) Relief Wells
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 Thank You
for
Your Attention

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