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Influence of Inclination of Thin Core on

Stability of Upstream Slope of Earth and
Rockfill Dams

Article in Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering January 2014

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 Influence of Inclination of Thin Core
on Stability of Upstream Slope of
Earth and Rockfill Dams
Rajesh Khanna1 Manoj Datta2 G V Ramana3
1
Corresponding Author and Scientist, Central Soil and Material Research
Station, Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi, India; E-mail:
rajesh12khanna@yahoo.com
2
Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India; E-
mail: mdatta@civil.iitd.ac.in
3
Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India; E-mail:
ramana@civil.iitd.ac.in

ABSTRACT
This paper reports the results of an analytical study undertaken to identify the zone within which
the inclination of a thin upstream inclined core has no influence on the stability of upstream slope
of earth and rockfill dams. A 180 m high earth and rockfill dam section, founded on strong base,
having section and slopes similar to a high dam in the northern India was used as a base section
for analysis. Various sections of the dam with different inclinations of thin upstream inclined
core were analysed for slope stability using standard available software to arrive at the factors of
safety of upstream slope of the dam. The critical core inclination with vertical was identified,
beyond which the factor of safety of upstream slope of the dam was observed to undergo
reduction. Stability analysis was carried out for two conditions, namely end-of-construction
(EOC) and rapid-draw-down (RDD) for upstream slope with different parameters under static
conditions. The study shows that a thin upstream inclined core does not influence the stability of
upstream slope of earth and rockfill dams, if it is positioned such that its inclination varies from
vertical to 1 V: 0.50 H. On the other hand if its inclination is beyond 1 V: 0.75 H, a thin upstream
inclined core causes reduction in the stability of upstream slope of earth and rockfill dams. In the
intermediate cases, the magnitude of reduction of factor of safety as well as critical inclination of
core is significantly influenced by relative strength of shell to core and the pore water pressure
parameter ru.
KEYWORDS: Earth and Rockfill Dams, Inclined Core, Factor of Safety, End-of-
Construction, Rapid-Draw-Down

INTRODUCTION
Earth and rockfill dams are characterized by two zones - an inner zone of earth or soil (core)
and an outer zone of rockfill (shell). The core material has lower shear strength parameters than
the shell material. A designer has to arrive at a dam section which has steep upstream and
downstream slopes so that quantity of earth work is minimum. The steepness of the slopes is
governed by stability considerations which in turn are influenced by the strength of the shell and
core materials as well as their geometry and inclinations. The dimensions of the core and shell
are usually determined by the types of soils and their quantities available at the dam site. If fine
grained soil (for the core) as well as coarse grained soil/rock fill (for the shell) is readily
available in abundance, one can design a large variety of dam sections with different thicknesses
and inclinations of core. Whenever the availability of core material is low, a thin core is adopted.
Such a core can be vertical or inclined in the upstream direction. The dimensions of core and its
- 6293 -
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6294

inclination are dependent not only on considerations of stability but also on the other factors
such as seepage loss, proper sealing at the foundation, resistance to piping, resistance to cracking
during seismic loading and construction of shell in advance of core etc. One can design large
variety of sections with different inclinations of upstream inclined core. In such cases, it is
necessary delineate a zone within which the upstream inclined core can be located and it does
not cause a reduction in the stability of upstream slope of the earth and rockfill dam.

OBJECTIVE
The present study was undertaken with objective of identifying how the incremental change
in inclination of upstream inclined core in an earth and rockfill dam influences the factor of
safety of upstream slope of the dam. From such a study, it is possible to identify the critical
inclination beyod which core causes a reduction in factor of safety of the dam slope. Further, it
was studied how the critical inclination is influenced by a variety of parameters such as relative
strength of shell and core materials, height of dam, end-of-construction pore water pressure and
rapid drawdown levels. On the basis of the study, a zone has been identified, within which the
location of upstream inclined core does not influence the stability of the upstream slope of a dam
for the entire range of parameters studied.

LITERATURE REVIEW
A review of literature of earth and rockfill dams reveals the following (Sherard, 1967; Singh
and Sharma, 1976; Datta, 1979, 1985; Champa and Mahatharad, 1982; Champa and Mahatharad,
1982; Knight et al., 1985; Kutzner et al.,1982; Kutzner, 1997; Singh and Varshney, 2004; World
register of Dams, 2011; CBIP, 2007; Honkanadavar, 2010; CSMRS, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011,
2012):
a) Upstream slopes of earth and rockfill dams are usually in the range of 1 V: 2.50 H to 1
V: 1.70 H. However in some cases the upstream slope is as flat as 1 V: 3.00 H or as
steep as 1 V: 1.40 H. Downstream slopes are usually in the range of 1 V: 2.25 H to 1 V:
1.50 H. However in some cases the downstream slope is as flat as 1 V: 2.50 H or as
steep as 1 V: 1.25 H.
b) In most cases, upstream inclination of core varies from 1 V: 0.40 H to 1 V: 2.00 H.
c) The ratio of thickness of core to height of dam for upstream inclined core is reported to
be between 30 % to 80 %.
d) In most cases, the value of effective angle of shearing resistance for shell material lies in
the range of 35 to 45 and for the core material the values of effective cohesion
intercept and effective angle of shearing resistance lie between 0 to 50 kPa and 14 to
25 respectively
e) The value of pore water pressure ratio in core material for End-of-Construction
condition ranges from 0.35 to 0.71
f) The influence of core inclination on stability of earth and rockfill dams has not been a
subject of detailed studies. Some studies by Singh and Sharma (1976), Datta (1979),
Datta and Gulhati (1991) and Datta et al. (1994) indicate the influence of core thickness
on stability of dam slopes but do not delineate the influence of inclination of core. The
present study attempts to fulfill the gap by identifying the zone within which the
location of an inclined core does not influence stability. It thus enables economic design
of earth and rockfill dams through proper location of a core in a dam body resulting in
steep slopes and minimum earthwork.
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6295

ANALYTICAL STUDY
A 180 m high earth and rockfill dam, founded on strong base having section and slopes
similar to a high dam in Northern India was selected as a base section for the study. A simplified
cross-section having flat base and no berms on the upstream and downstream slope of dam, with
variable inclinations of upstream inclined core has been adopted for the present study as shown
in Figure 1. The core inclinations have been increased, in increments (Figure 1) till it merges
with the upstream slope. The factor of safety of upstream slope was analysed for each inclination
of upstream inclined core, to identify the critical inclination beyond which the factor of safety
begins to reduce due to the influence of the core.

Figure 1: Simplified dam section with inclined core of fixed width having variable
inclination
The parameters of shell and core used in the study for the base case are as follows:
Shell Material:
c= 0 kN/m, = 42 (for both end-of construction and rapid-draw-down)
Core Material:
c = 50 kN/m, `= 24 (for unsaturated soil, end-of-construction condition)
c = 0 kN/m, = 24 (for saturated soil, rapid-draw-down condition)

A total of 214 cases were analysed. The influence of varying the following parameters was
studied:
a) Inclination of the core: 1.0 V: 0.0 H to 1.0 V: 2.50 H at an increment of 1 V:
0.25 H (till the
b) u/s core inclination merges with the upstream slope of dam)
c) Relative strength of shell to core: `shell = 30, 42, 54 with
`core = 24 (constant)
d) End-of-construction pore water pressure ratio ru: ru = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75
e) Drawdown level: H/4, H/2, 3H/4, where H =
height of dam
f) Height of dam: 180 m and 45 m
In the present study, the stability analysis has been performed using Bishops Simplified
Method for upstream slope under end-of-construction and rapid-draw-down conditions using
software SLIDE 5.0.
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6296

STABILITY OF UPSTREAM SLOPE

End-of-Construction Condition

Influence of Core Inclination

Figure 2 depicts the influence of core inclination on factor of safety of upstream slope of the
dam with ru = 0.5 (base case). It is noted form Figures 2 that for variation of core inclination
from 1 V: 0.12 H to 1 V: 0.75 H, there is no change in factor of safety which has a value of 2.46
(this corresponds to tanshell / tan for infinite slope in cohesionless soil), because the critical
failure surface continue to pass through the shell material (Figure 2 (a)). When the core
inclination is beyond 1 V: 0.75 H, the factor of safety begins to decrease as the failure surface
passes through the core (Figure 2 (b)). This is the critical inclination of the core. The minimum
value of factor of safety obtained is 1.10 when the upstream slope of core is 1 V: 2.15 H;
thereafter the factor of safety increases marginally to 1.16 when the upstream slope of core
merges with the upstream slope of dam. The critical failure surface for the latter case is observed
to pass predominantly through the core (Figure 2 (c)) but the relatively low steepness of the core
along with its limited depth causes the failure surface to touch the shell material beneath the core
resulting in slight increase in factor of safety.

Figure 2: Influence of core inclination under end-of-construction on stability of

upstream slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam

Figure 2-a: Critical failure surface for 180 m high earth and rockfill dam under end-of-
construction (u/s) with inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 0.50 H
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6297

Figure 2-b: Critical failure surface for 180 m high earth and rockfill dam under end-of-
construction (u/s) with inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 1.25 H

Figure 2-c: Critical failure surface for 180 m high earth and rockfill dam under end-of-
construction (u/s) with inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 2.70 H

Figure 2-d: Critical failure surface for 45 m high earth and rockfill dam under end-of-
construction (u/s) with inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 2.70 H
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6298

Influence of Pore Water Pressure Parameter, ru

Figure 3 depicts the influence of pore water pressure on the stability of upnstream slope for
different inclinations of the core. It is observed from Figure 3 that as the value of ru factor
varies from 0 to 0.75 there is a decrease in the factor of safety after reaching a critical
inclination. The decrease in factor of safety is more when ru is higher because higher pore water
pressure results in lower strength of the core material. Further, for the highest value of ru
(0.75), the factor of safety begins to decline after critical inclination of 1 V: 0.50 H and for the
lowest value of ru (0.0) the factor of safety begins to decline beyond inclination of 1 V: 1 H.
In all the cases, the factor of safety is minimum at core inclination of 1 V: 2.15 H and a marginal
increase is observed thereafter, as the core touches the upstream face of the dam. This marginal
increase is due to the fact that the depth of critical failure surface is limited by the thickness of
the core.

Figure 3: Influence of ru under end-of-construction on stability of upstream slope

of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam

Influence of Relative Strength of Shell to Core

Figure 4 depicts the influence of relative strength of shell and core on the stability of upstream slope for
different inclinations of the core. It is evident from Figure 4 that the core begins to influence the stability
of the dam at different inclinations depending upon the relative strength. For largest difference in relative
strength (`shell = 54, `core = 24) the decrease in factor of safety starts at 1 V: 0.50 H as against 1 V: 0.75
H for other cases (`shell = 42, 30, `core = 24).
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6299

Figure 4: Influence of relative strength under end-of-construction on stability of

upstream slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam

Influence of Height of Dam

Figure 5 depicts the influence of height of dam on the stability of upstream slope for different inclinations
of the core. It is noted that the factor of safety decreases when the core inclination becomes flatter than 1
V: 0.75 H, irrespective of the height of the dam. A peculiar aspect of the graph in Figure 5 is that when the
thin inclined core merges with the upstream slope of the dam, the factor of safety rises to a high level for
dam of height 45 m. This is so because the limited depth of the core and its low steepness causes the
critical failure surface to emerge below the core material into the shell as depicted in Figure 2 (d). Further
it may be noted that the factors of safety for 45 m high dam are higher than those for 180 m high dam
when the failure surface passes through the core because the influence of c` = 50 kPa on factor of safety is
much larger for a dam of lower height.

Figure 5: Influence of height of dam under end-of-construction on stability of upstream

slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6300

Discussion
This part of study shows that the stability of upstream slope of dam under end-of-
construction is influenced by inclination of inclined core. In most cases, the inclined core begins
to reduce the factor of safety of the upstream slope beyond a critical inclination of the core of 1
V: 0.75 H. The magnitude of reduction is significantly dependent on the ru factor, the relative
strength of shell to core and height of dam. The critical core inclination reduces to 1 V: 0.5 H in
a few cases, when ru is high or the relative strength of shell to core is high.

Rapid-Draw-Down Condition
To analyse the stability of upstream slope under condition of Rapid-Draw-Down, it is
necessary to develop an understanding about the flow of water as soon as drawdown of reservoir
takes place. Flow lines were obtained for Rapid-Draw-Down condition using FEM technique for
different inclinations of upstream inclined core varying from 1 V: 0.12 H to 1 V: 2.70 H. Figure
6 and Figure 7 show the typical flowlines for the vertical and inclined core for drawdown level,
Hdd = H/2. It is observed from the Figure 6 that there is reverse flow under Rapid-Draw-Down
(Hdd = H/2) in the top half of the core when the thin core is vertical. However for upstream
inclined position of core, the flow lines flow vertically downwards towards the downstream side,
above the midheight of core as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6: Flow lines and equipotential lines under rapid-draw-down ( Hdd = H/2) through
core with downstream and upstream slopes of 1 V: 0.120 H
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6301

Figure 7: Flow lines and equipotential lines under rapid-draw-down (Hdd = H/2) through
core with inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 1 H

Influence of core inclination

Figure 8 depicts the influence of core inclination on factor of safety of upstream slope of the
dam for Hdd = H/2. It is noted from Figure 8 that for core inclination of 1 V: 0.125 H to 1 V: 0.75
H, there is no change in factor of safety which has a value of about 2.48 (this corresponds to
being close to (tanshell / tan for infinite slope in cohesionless soil) because the failure surfaces
continue to pass through the shell material (Figure 9 (a)) and there are no seepage forces in the
free-draining shell material. Beyond 1 V: 0.75, the factor of safety begins to decrease as the
failure surface begins to pass through the core (Figure 9 (b)). The minimum value of factor of
safety obtained is 1.21 when the core slope merges with the upstream slope of the dam. The
critical failure surfaces are shown in Figures 9 (a), 9 (b) and 9 (c) for varying inclinations of
core.

Figure 8: Influence of core inclination under Rapid-Draw-Down (Hdd = H/2) on

stability of upstream slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6302

Figure 9-a: Critical failure surface for earth and rockfill dam, H = 180 m, Hdd = 90 m
(inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 0.50 H)

Figure 9-b: Critical failure surface for earth and rockfill dam, H = 180 m, Hdd = 90 m
(inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 1 H)

Figure 9-c: Critical failure surface for earth and rockfill dam, H = 180 m, Hdd = 90 m
(inclination of upstream slope of inclined core = 1 V: 1 H)
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6303

Influence of Depth of Drawdown Level

Figure 10 depicts the influence of depth of drawdown level on factor of safety of upstream
slope of the dam. It is observed from Figure 10 that variation of drawdown level in the range of
H/4 to 3H/4 levels has no influence on the manner in which inclination of thin core influences
the factor of safety of earth and rockfill dam.

Figure 10: Influence of depth of drawdown under Rapid-Draw-Down with varying

inclination of core

Influence of Relative Strength of Shell and Core

Figure 11 depicts the influence of relative strength of shell and core on factor of safety of
upstream slope of the dam. It is evident from Figure 11 that the core begins to influence the
stability of the dam at an inclination of 1 V: 0.50 H when the difference in relative
strength parameters is very large i.e. when shell = 54 and core = 24 However when difference
in relative strength parameters is not so large (shell = 42, 30, core = 24), the core begins to
influence the factor of safety at an inclination of 1 V: 0.75 H.

Figure 11: Influence of relative strength under Rapid-Draw-Down (Hdd = H/2) on

stability of upstream slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6304

Influence of Height of Dam

Figure 12 depicts the influence of height of dam on factor of safety of upstream slope of
the dam under rapid-draw-down condition. It is inferred from Figure 12 that height of dam has
no influence on the manner in which core inclination influences the factor of safety of earth and
rockfill dam. This observation is different from the behaviour observed regarding influence of
dam height in end-of-construction condition in Section 5.1.4. This is so because in the case of
end-of-construction condition, the magnitude of cohesion intercept of core is 50 kPa (being
unsaturated soil) and this value plays a significant role in keeping the magnitude of factor of
safety at a higher value for 45 m high dam in comparison to a 180 m high dam for failure surface
passing through the core. In contrast, the value of effective cohesion intercept is zero under
rapid-draw-down condition (being saturated soil); hence the values of factors of safety are nearly
identical for dam heights of 45 and 180 m.

Figure 12: Influence of height of dam under Rapid-Draw-Down (Hdd = H/2) on stability
of upstream slope of 60 m wide upstream inclined core earth and rockfill dam

DISCUSSION
This part of the study shows that an inclined core begins to reduce the factor of safety of the
upstream slope under rapid-draw-draw when inclination of core slope is beyond 1 V: 0.75 H. As
long as the inclination of core lies within the zone which is within that defined by this critical
value, there is no influence of core on stability of upstream slope of dam. The critical core
inclination varies with relative strength of shell and core and reduces to 1 V: 0.50 H when the
difference in strength of shell and core is large. The magnitude of reduction of factor of safety
beyond critical inclination is also significantly influenced by relative strength of core and shell.
However the reduction is not significantly dependent on height of dam and magnitude of
drawdown levels.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study reveals the following for thin inclined cores in earth and rockfill dams:
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6305

An inclined core does not influence the stability of upstream slope of an earth and
rockfill dam, if its inclination is in within the zone defined by 1 V: 50 H to vertical
(Zone I) as shown in Figure 13.
An inclined core causes a reduction in the stability of upstream slope of an earth and
rockfill dam, if it is positioned such that its inclination is outside the zone defined by
1 V: 0.75 H to vertical (Zone III) as shown in Figure 13.
The magnitude of reduction in factor of safety of upstream slope due to an inclined
core depends upon a variety of factors such as degree of inclination, relative strength
of shell to core, value of end-of-construction pore water pressure ratio and height of
dam. These factors can result in critical core inclination being located in Zone II.
Thus, the present study is useful for demarcating the safe zone within an earth and rockfill
dam for positioning an inclined core. The range of parameters used in the study covering
strength properties, height of dam, drawdown level and the pore water pressure parameters ru
suggest that the critical inclinations identified herein would be valid for a large variety of earth
and rockfill dams on strong foundations.

Figure 13: Zones of an earth and rockfill dam in which position of core affects stability
of outer slopes
 Vol. 19 [2014], Bund. U 6306

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