scholarly journals Evaluation of Earth Dam Leakage Considering the Uncertainty in Soil ‎Hydraulic Parameters

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 1543-1556
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Boroomand ◽  
Amirhossein Mohammadi

Analysis of earth dams is generally conducted in three stages of stability, deformability and water penetration analysis. Lack of sufficient attention to leakage, as one of the most important issues, leads to erosion and destruction of slope stability. The aim of current paper is to analyze the earth dam leakage with respect to the existing uncertainty in soil hydraulic parameters. In this research, the Monte Carlo (MC) method was used to calculate soil hydraulic parameters. Using these parameters, analysis of Alborz earth dam leakage by means of SEEP/W model based on the finite elements method was investigated. Due to the hydraulic conditions of the core soil, the total head value, pore water pressure, and water flux in core region will change. The results indicate that uncertainty in the hydraulic parameters of Alborz earth dam are significant, thus risk is important in this dam. The application of the proposed methodology in estimation of leakage from Alborz earth dam in Mazandaran province reveals its efficiency and proper accuracy in predicting the amount of leakage flow in earth dams with respect to the possible changes in the hydraulic parameters of the soil. Moreover, it was found that the quantity of seepage increases considerably when the dam is without core, therefore, the core is very necessary to decrease the value of seepage through the earth dam.

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Pagano ◽  
Stefania Sica ◽  
Augusto Desideri

The representativeness of measurements monitored in earth dams is analysed to investigate how a given measured quantity can be used to interpret the dam's mechanical behaviour. Representativeness is evaluated on the basis of spatial continuity of the measured quantity and the sensitivity of that quantity to natural mechanical nonhomogeneity. The discussion is supported by results from case studies and numerical examples. The study is mainly focused on pore-water pressure measurements. Spatial continuity of pore-water pressure is analysed with consideration of both saturation and drainage conditions. The paper discusses how pore-water pressure representativeness can vary over the lifetime of the dam.Key words: earth dam, pore-water pressure, monitoring.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre LeBihan ◽  
Serge Leroueil

The paper proposes equations describing the transport of gases through the initially unsaturated core of a dam by dissolution and diffusion in water and examines different numerical simulations based on these equations. The simulation results provide pore-water pressure distributions similar to those observed in several earth dams, with higher pore-water pressures than expected in the downstream part of the core. Practical considerations to estimate the implications of the phenomenon are then discussed.Key words: dam, unsaturated soil, pore pressure, dissolution of gas, diffusion of gas, hydraulic conductivity.


Geoderma ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 285 ◽  
pp. 247-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Sz. Kishné ◽  
Yohannes Tadesse Yimam ◽  
Cristine L.S. Morgan ◽  
Bright C. Dornblaser

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tailin Li ◽  
Nina Noreika ◽  
Jakub Jeřábek ◽  
Tomáš Dostál ◽  
David Zumr

<p>A better understanding of hydrological processes in agricultural catchments is not only crucial to hydrologists but also helpful for local farmers. Therefore, we have built the freely-available web-based WALNUD dataset (Water in Agricultural Landscape – NUčice Database) for our experimental catchment Nučice (0.53 km<sup>2</sup>), the Czech Republic. We have included observed precipitation, air temperature, stream discharge, and soil moisture in the dataset. Furthermore, we have applied numerical modelling techniques to investigate the hydrological processes (e.g. soil moisture variability, water balance) at the experimental catchment using the dataset.</p><p>The Nučice catchment, established in 2011, serves for the observation of rainfall-runoff processes, soil erosion and water balance of the cultivated landscape. The average altitude is 401 m a.s.l., the mean land slope is 3.9 %, and the climate is humid continental (mean annual temperature 7.9 °C, average annual precipitation 630 mm). The catchment consists of three fields covering over 95 % of the area. There is a narrow stream which begins as a subsurface drainage pipe in the uppermost field draining the water at catchment. The typical crops are winter wheat, rapeseed, mustard and alfalfa. The installed equipment includes a standard meteorological station, several rain gauges distributed in the area of the basin, and an H flume to monitor the stream discharge, water turbidity and basic water quality indicators. The soil water content (at point scale) and groundwater level are also recorded. Recently, we have installed two cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors (StyX Neutronica) to estimate large-scale topsoil water content at the catchment.</p><p>Even though the soil management and soil properties in the fields of Nučice seem to be nearly homogeneous, we have observed variability in the topsoil moisture pattern. The method for the explanation of the soil water regime was the combination of the connectivity indices and numerical modelling. The soil moisture profiles from the point-scale sensors were processed in a 1-D physically-based soil water model (HYDRUS-1D) to optimize the soil hydraulic parameters. Further, the soil hydraulic parameters were used as input into a 3D spatially-distributed model, MIKE-SHE. The MIKE-SHE simulation has been mainly calibrated with rainfall-runoff observations. Meanwhile, the spatial patterns of the soil moisture were assessed from the simulation for both dry and wet catchment conditions. From the MIKE-SHE simulation, the optimized soil hydraulic parameters have improved the estimation of soil moisture dynamics and runoff generation. Also, the correlation between the observed and simulated soil moisture spatial patterns showed different behaviors during the dry and wet catchment conditions.</p><p>This study has been supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Technical University in Prague, grant No. SGS20/156/OHK1/3T/11 and the Project SHui which is co-funded by the European Union Project: 773903 and the Chinese MOST.</p>


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1492-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. de Rooij ◽  
R. T. A. Kasteel ◽  
A. Papritz ◽  
H. Fluhler

2012 ◽  
Vol 452-453 ◽  
pp. 538-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelkader Djehiche ◽  
Rekia Amieur ◽  
Mustafa Gafsi

This paper presents an experimental study of a homogenous earth dam. The work is focused to the search of solutions of problems encountered in the earth dams after their construction. One of the major problems is the choice and design of systems of drainage. The effective drainage system to prevent harmful accumulations of excess water is one of the most important roles of dams. Efficient drainage systems can improve the safety of earth dams. The paper presented herein reports the results obtained from the experimental study. Empiric relations have been obtained which can be help in the control of the flow rate in the chimney drain of the earth dams on pervious foundation, which can increase safety earth dams


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