Embankment Dams

Introduction
 Embankment dams are the most common dam types in the
world

 They are constructed from earthen materials i.e. soil and rock
with out any cementing material

 They should be water tight, and stable under the various loading
condition they are subjected during the design period
 Classification

Embankment Dams

Earth fill Rock fill

With
Upstream
Homogenous Zoned Diaphragm Impervious
facing
core
Rock fill Dams
 Key Elements of Embankment dams
Drains
Key Elements of Embankment dams
Key Elements of Embankment dams
Key Elements of Embankment dams
 Causes of failure

Embankment dam failures may be classified in

to four groups
Hydraulic failure
Overtopping
Erosion of upstream and down stream slopes
Rise of water level
Seepage failure
Seepage through the body and foundation of a dam
Conduit leakage
Sloughing of down stream toe
 Causes of failure cont…
Structural failure
Slope failure on upstream and downstream
Slide in foundation
Settlement and differential settlement and cracking
Liquefaction slides
Slope protection failure
Failure due to burrowing animals
Failure due to soluble minerals
 Causes of failure
Causes cont…
of failure
Earthquake failure
Slope failure because of inertial loading and/or softening
of materials strength or liquefaction.

Fault displacement under the foundation.

Crest settlement of dam caused by settlement or by

earthquake generated water waves in the reservoir.

Permanent deformation of foundation soils or dam body.

 Sliding failure of an embankment composed of weak or

liquefiable soils.
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Causes of failure
 Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Earthquake damage
 Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Earthquake damage
 Causes of failure
Causes of failure
Earthquake damage
 Design Principle
 Criteria for Safe design of embankment dam
 Criteria for design evolved from the study of cases of failure in
the past
 The criteria should be specific and address all possible causes
of failure
 The following criteria are often employed in the safe design of
embankment dams
1. No risk of overtopping during design flood occurrence
 Appropriate estimation of design flood
 Adequate spillway
 Adequate outlet works and
 Adequate freeboard
 2. No seepage failure
 Phreatic line should exit the dam safely without sloughing
the downstream face

 Seepage through the body, foundation and abutments should

be controls using suitable measures

 The dam and foundation should be safe against piping failure

 There should be no opportunity for free passage of water

from the upstream to downstream .i.e. no cracking
 3. No structural failure
 Safe upstream and down stream slope during construction
and end of construction

 Safe upstream slope during sudden draw down

 Safe down stream slope during steady state seepage

 Foundation shear strength within safe limits

 Safe against earthquake loads and liquefaction

 Proper slope protection against wind wave and rainfall

 Proper drainage
 Seepage analysis and control
 Seepage occurs through the body of all earthen dams and also
through their pervious foundations

 The amount of seepage has to be controlled in all conservation

dams and the effects of seepage (i.e. position of phreatic line) has
to be controlled for all dams, in order to avoid their failures

 The seepage through a pervious soil material, for two

dimensional flow,' is given by Laplacian equation
The above equation is based on the following assumptions

 Water is incompressible

 The soil is incompressible and porous

 The size of the pore space do not change with time regardless
of water pressure

 The quantity of water entering the· soil in any given time is the
same as the quantity flowing out of the soil

 Darcy's law is valid for the given soils

 The hydraulic boundary conditions at the entry and exit are

known
 Graphical solution
A graphical solution of the above equation, suggests that the flow
through the soil, following the above assumptions, can be
represented by a flow-net ; which consists of two sets of curves,
known as 'Equipotential lines' (i.e. lines of equal energy) and
'stream lines' (i.e. flow lines), mutually perpendicular to each
other, as shown bellow
 Seepage discharge through isotropic soil
 The amount of seepage can be easily computed from the flow
net. Let us assume that the soil is isotropic, i.e. its permeability
is constant in all directions, or Kh = Kv. (i.e. horizontal
permeability is equal to the vertical permeability)

 The seepage rate (q) can be computed from the flow net, using
Darcy's Law

 Applying the principle of continuity between each pair of flow

lines, it is evident that the velocity must vary inversely with the
spacing
 Assuming the dam cross-section of Figure above to have a unit
.
width, we have : The flow -through the square ABCD (called
field) or through the flow channel containing this square
 .
 The total flow through all the channels, i.e. the total flow
through the unit width of the dam

 This is the required expression, representing discharge passing

through a flow net and is applicable only to isotropic soils (i.e.
soils for which Kh = Kv)
 Seepage discharge for non isotropic soils
 For isotropic soils, with the only difference that the dam section
shall be drawn to the same vertical scale but to a transformed
horizontal scale
 All horizontal dimensions shall be reduced by multiplying them
𝐾𝑣
by a factor equal to
𝐾ℎ
 Flow net and squares will be drawn in the same manner, and
number of flow channels (Np ) and number of drops (Nd) shall
be counted. The discharge can then be computed by the
𝐻∗𝑁𝑓
equation 𝐾ℎ ∗ 𝐾𝑣
𝑁𝑑
 Line of Seepage or Phreatic Line in Earth Dams

 Line of seepage or phreatic line or saturation line is defined as

the line within the dam section below which there are positive
hydrostatic pressures in the dam

 The hydrostatic pressure on the phreatic line is equal to the

atmospheric pressure and hence, equal to zero.

 Above the phreatic line, there is a zone of capillary saturation

called capillary fringe, in which the hydrostatic pressures are
negative
 Advantages of determining the position of the phreatic line,

 It gives us a divide line between the dry (or moist) and

submerged soil

 The · soil above the seepage line will be taken as dry and the soil
below the seepage line shall be taken as submerged for
computation of shear strength of soil

 It represent the top streamline and hence; helps us in drawing

the flow net

 The seepage line determination, helps us to ensure that it does

not cut the downstream face of the dam. This is extremely
necessary for preventing softening or sloughing of the dam
 Determination of Phreatic Line when the Dam section is
Homogeneous and Provided with a Horizontal Filter
 Let a base parabola with focus at F is drawn and produced so as
to intersect the water surface at a point A

 AB = 0.3HB; where H is the projection of the point G (i.e. the

end point of upstream slope) on the water surface. Knowing the
point A, the base parabola AIJC can be drawn with its focus at
F

 It can then be corrected for the curve BI such that BI is

perpendicular to GB, thus, BIJC will finally represent the
seepage line
 Equation of the base parabola
.
 The equation of the parabola can be determined from the basic
property of the parabola, the distance of any point P (x, y) on
the parabola from its focus is the same as the distance of that
point P (x, y) from a line called directrix. Taking the focus (F) as
the origin, the equation of the parabola can be written as
 𝑥2 + 𝑦2 = x+FD
.
where the vertical line through D is the directrix

ED is the distance of the focus from the directrix, called focal

distance and is generally represented by S

 The equation of the parabola, then becomes

 If the horizontal distance between the already determined

point A and the focus (F) is taken as say b, then (b, H)
represents the coordinates of the point A on the parabola.
Substituting in equation above

𝑏2 + 𝐻2 = b+S

S= 𝑏2 + 𝐻2 - b
 Consider a unit width of the dam. Let q be the seepage
discharge per unit width
.
of the dam. Then, according to
Darcy's Law, q = KiA

 When steady conditions have reached, the discharge crossing

any vertical plane across the dam section will be the same
 Hence, the values of i and A can be taken for any point on the
seepage line
𝑑𝑦
i=
𝑑𝑥
A = y x 1 (i.e. saturated depth x width)
𝑑𝑦
q =K *y
𝑑𝑥
 But the equation of the parabola I
 𝑥2 + 𝑦2 =x+S .
(x2+y2) = (x+S)2
y2 = 𝑥 + 𝑆 2 − 𝑥2
y = 𝑆2 + 2𝑥𝑆

 The coefficient of permeability K and the focal distance (S) are

known ; the discharge q can be easily computed. This is an
important equation. Strictly speaking, this equation is
applicable only to dams with horizontal drainage but is used
for other type of section also and gives quite close values of
discharge
Determination of Phreatic Line when the Dam Section
is Homogeneous (without Filter)
 The focus (F) of the parabola, in this case, will be the lowest
point of the downstream slope as shown bellow

 The seepage line will, however, emerge out at K, meeting the

downstream face tangentially there. The portion KF is known as
discharge face and always remains saturated
 The correction JK (say Δa) by which the parabola is to be
.
shifted downward can be determined as follows
(A)Graphical general solution. Cassagrande has given a general
solution to evaluate Δ𝑎 for various inclinations of discharge
face. Let a be-the angle which the discharge face makes with
Δ𝑎
the horizontal. The various values of have been given
𝑎+Δ𝑎
by Cassagrande, as shown in table bellow
 (a+ Δ𝑎) is the distance Fl (i.e. the distance of the focus from
.
the point where the parabola cuts the dis face) and is known. Δ𝑎
can then be evaluated. a and Δ𝑎 can be connected by a general
equation
B. Analytical solutions for determining the position of point k, i.e.
the point at which the seepage line intersects the downstream
slope
 Case(a) when α < 30º
Schaffernak and Van Iterson have derived an equation for
determining the value of 'a' (and thus fixing the position of point
K) in terms of H, b' and α. Their final equation is
 .

Case (b) ·When a lies between 30° and 60°

Cassagrande has derived an equation for determining the value of
'a' in terms of b, H and α. His final equation is
 Where H is the head causing flow and α is the angle which the
.
downstream face makes with the horizontal (clockwise) as
defined earlier