EARTH DAMS

Contents

INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF EARTH DAMS
FAILURE OF THE EATH DAMS
DESIGN OF EARTH DAM
PHREATIC LINE IN EARTH DAM
STABILITY ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

Earth dam is most common type of dam and generally built of

locally available materials in their natural state with a
minimum of processing
Earth dam are composed of fragmental materials which
maintain their individual identity
These fragments have spaces and voids between them and
drive their strength from their position, friction and cohesion
The foundation recruirements of earth dams are less stringent
than for the other types of dams
Earth dams are of considerable size

TYPES OF EARTH DAMS

EARTH DAMS

HYDRAULIC- FILL
DAM

HOMOGENEOUS
EMBANKMENT

ZONED
EMBANKMENT

ROLLED-FILL
DAM

DIAPHRAGM
EMBANKMENT

According to method of construction

TYPES OF EARTH DAMS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

HYDRAULIC- FILL DAMThe material is excavated, transported and placed by

hydraulic methods
Flumes are laid at a suitable falling gradient along the outer
edge of the embankment. The mixed material is pumped into
these flumes
The slush is discharged through the outlets in the flumes at
suitable interval along their length
The slush flow towards the centre of the bank so coarse
material of slush settle at the outer edge while the fine
materials settle at the centre
No compaction is done

TYPES OF EARTH DAMS

1.

2.

3.

4.

ROLLED-FILL DAMThe embankment is constructed in successive, mechanically

compacted layers
The suitable materials are transported from the borrow pits
to the construction site by earth moving machinery
Material is spread by bulldozers , and sprinkled to form
layers of limited thickness having proper water content
These layers are compacted and bonded with preceding
layers by power operated rollers of proper design and
weight

TYPES OF ROLLED-FILLED EARTH DAM

1.
.

HOMOGENEOUS EMBANKMENT TYPEA purely homogeneous earth dam is composed of single

kind of material and used only for low to moderate heights
These dams are usually composed of impervious or semiimpervious soils to provide adequate barrier.
The upstream slope is kept flatter to make the dam safe
during sudden drawdown condition
A purely homogeneous section has been replaced by
modified homogeneous section

TYPES OF ROLLED-FILLED EARTH DAM

2.
.
.

ZONED EMBANKMENT TYPEDam is made of more than one material

In this dam section a central impervious core is flanked by
zones of more pervious material
The outer shells are made of freely draining pervious
material . The shells give stability to the central impervious
fill and distribute the load over a larger area in foundation
Sometimes a semi-pervious zone is provided as a transition
between outer shell and central core
A drainage system is provided at d/s side.

TYPES OF ROLLED-FILLED EARTH DAM

3.
.

DIAPHRAGM EMBANKMENT TYPEThis is modification over the homogeneous embankment

type
In this bulk of embankment is constructed of pervious
material & a thin diaphragm of impermeable material is
provided to check the seepage
Diaphragm is placed either centre of the section as a central
vertical core or at the u/s face as a blanket
The diaphragm may be of impervious soil, cement concrete,
bituminous concrete any other impervious material

CAUSES OF FAILURES OF EARTH DAMS

1.
2.
3.

4.

On the basis of investigation reports on past failure, types of

earth dam failures are categories into three classesHydraulic failures
:
40%
Seepage failures
:
30%
Structural failures
:
30%

Hydraulic failure-

Hydraulic failure

Overtopping

Wave erosion

Toe erosion

Gullying

HYDRAULIC FAILURE
i. Overtopping. The earth dam may get overtopped if the design flood is
under-estimated or if the spillway is of insufficient capacity
. Insufficient free board or settlement of foundation and
embankment may also lead to overtopping
ii. Toe erosion. Toe erosion may occur due to tail water and due to cross
currents that may come from spillway buckets
. Diaphragm walls of sufficient length & height should be
provided to check the cross flow towards the dam
. A thick riprap on the d/s slope is provided to avoid toe
erosion upto a height slightly above the tail water level

HYDRAULIC FAILURE
iii. Wave erosion. The effect of the wave is to notch out earth from the u/s slope in
absence of proper slope protection
. Rollers are developed in the waves which try to scoop out the
earth. Wave can also cause u/s slip

iv. Gullying. D/s slope may fail due to formation of gullies by heavy downpour
. Proper berms, turfing & drainage system is provided to prevent
from failure

SEEPAGE FAILURES

SEEPAGE FAILURES

PIPING

SLOUGHING

i. Piping. The seepage of water through the body and foundation of the
dam may lead to piping or progressive erosion of
concentrated leaks

CONT.
Water seeping through the earth dam may have four bad
effectA. Seeping water generates erosive forces which dislodge
particles from the soil structure and causes rearrangement
of fines to voids between larger grains
B. The flow associated with differential pore pressure can lift
portion of soil mass causing sand boiling
C. Internal erosion of soil mass leads to the formation of an
open conduit through the soil
D. Internal pressure in the soil water reduce the soil strength
and thereby lead to weakening of soil mass and even
failure by shear

CONT.
Leaks in the embankment may also lead to piping failure
Most of the serious trouble from piping has resulted from
progressive backward erosion of concentrated leaks which
develop through or under the dam

SEEPAGE FAILURES
ii. Sloughing. Under the full reservoir condition the d/s toe remains
saturated and may erode and produce small slump and
miniature slide
. This miniature slide leaves a relatively steep face, which
become saturated by seepage from the reservoir and a slump
again, forming a slightly higher and more unstable face
. This raveling process can continue till the remaining portion
of the dam is too thin to withstand the water pressure and
complete failure occurs suddenly as the reservoir breaks
through

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
Structure failure may be due to following reasons:
1) u/s and d/s slope failure due to construction pore
pressures
2) u/s slope failure due to sudden drawdown
3) d/s slope failure during full reservoir condition
4) Foundation slide : spontaneous liquefaction
5) Failure by spreading
6) Failure due to earthquake
7) Slope protection failure
8) Failure due to damage caused by burrowing animals
9) Damage caused by water soluble materials

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
u/s and d/s slope failure due to construction pore
pressures:
. When a dam is built of impervious compressive soil, the
drainage is extremely slow and excess pore pressure develop
during and immediately after construction
. When the permeability is law there may be no drop in pore
pressure in central zone of dam by end of construction
. There are two types of construction slides
Slide occurs slowly and continues at a uniform rate for a
period usually of two to four weeks
Slide occurs rapidly and suddenly
1)

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
2) u/s slope failure due to sudden drawdown:
. For u/s slope , the critical condition is when the reservoir is
suddenly emptied without allowing any appreciable change
in water level within the saturated soil mass. This is known
as sudden drawdown.
. When the u/s slide occurs due to sudden drawdown, the pore
pressure along the surface of slide are dissipated to a large
extent. Hence there is lesser tendency for the continued
sloughing and sliding.
. u/s slides does not cause complete loss or failure of water
from the reservoir.

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
3) d/s slope failure during full reservoir condition:
. For d/s slope the critical condition occurs when the reservoir
is full and percolation is at maximum rate
. The direction of seepage force tend to decrease the stability
. Pore water pressure acting on soil mass below the saturation
line reduces the effective stress responsible for mobilizing
shearing resistance
. There are two types of d/s slidesa) Deep slides
b) Shallow slides

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
4) Foundation slide : spontaneous liquefaction:
. When the earth dam has foundation of fine silt or soft soil it
can slide wholly
. Excess water pressure on confined sand and silt seams in the
foundation may also cause unbalanced condition causing
foundation failure
. Sometimes a soft and weak clayey seam exists under the
foundation and the dam can slide over it causing failure
. Expansion of soils on saturation may cause lifting of the
slope and thus cause failure

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
5) Failure by spreading:
. These are observed only in connection with fills located
above stratified deposits that contain layers of soft clay
. For example : Marshall Creek Dam in Kansas (1927)

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
6) Failure due to earthquake :
. Most serious damage and failures of dam may be due to
following effect due to earthquake:. Cracks in core of dam leading to leakage and piping failure
. Settlement of crest due to compression of foundation thereby
reducing free board and causes overtopping
. Shaking of reservoir bottom causing slow waves hence
failure due to overtopping
. Liquefaction of sand below foundation
. Acceleration forces on embankment may cause shear slide
of appreciable point of the slope of dam
. Fault movement causing reduction in the reservoir capacity
and consequent overtopping

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
7) Slope protection failure:
. Slopes are protected by riprap over a layer of gravel or filter
blanket
. During the heavy storm, the waves on the surface of the
reservoir beat repeatedly against the slope
. The wave energy is dissipated turbulent action on land and
within rocks of riprap layer.

CONT.
Turbulent action have two effect:
1. The wave may pass through the voids of riprap and may
wash away the filter layer, setting the riprap layer and
exposing the embankment to wave erosion
2. If the average size of rock comprising riprap is not heavy, it
may be washed out of the layer by the hydraulic forces
generated by the waves

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
8) Failure due to damage caused by burrowing animals:
. Burrowing animals may cause piping failure of small dam
. Animals like muskrats burrow into embankment either to
make homes or to dig passes from one pond to another
. If many muskrats are involved , their holes may dangerously
honeycomb a small earth dam, making it weak
. Ground squirrels normally dig only in dry soil and stop at
the point where seepage is encountered

Holes made by muskrats

STRUCTURAL FAILURES
9) Damage caused by water soluble materials:
. The leaching of natural deposits of water soluble materials,
such as gypsum create trouble
. Where considerable foundation leakage occurs, leaching of
gypsum of the foundation may cause excessive settlement
. The deposition of soluble material previously leached from
the natural soil may tend to plug specially designed filters

DESIGN OF EARTH DAM

Criteria for safe design of earth dam:
1. The embankment must be safe against overtopping during
occurrence of inflow design flood by provision of spillway
2. The dam must have sufficient free board so that it is not
overtopped by wave action
3. The seepage line should be well within d/s face so that no
sloughing of slope take place
4. Seepage flow through the embankment, foundation and
abutments must be controlled by suitable design provision so
that no internal erosion take place
5. The portion of the d/s of impervious core should be properly
drained

CONT.
6. The u/s and d/s slope should be designed so that it is
safe during and immediately after construction
7. The d/s slope should be designed so that it is safe
during steady seepage case under full reservoir
condition
8. The u/s slope should be stable during rapid drawdown
condition
9. The u/s and d/s slopes of dam should be flat enough so
that shear stress induced in the foundation is enough
less than the shear strength of the material in foundation
10. The dam as a whole should be earthquake resistant

DESIGN OF EARTH DAM

Section of an earth dam:-

The preliminary design of an earth

dam is done on the basis of past experience and on the
performance of the dam built in past.
1. Top widthThe crest width of an earth dam depends on the
following considerationA. Height of structure
B. Importance of the structure
C. Width of the highway on the top of the dam
D. Practicability of construction
E. Protection against earthquake forces
F. Nature of embankment material

CONT.

Empirical expression for top width b of the earth dam-

1) b =Z/5 +3
: Applicable for low dams
2) b = 0.55Z1/2 +0.2Z : Applicable for dams lower than 30m
3) b = 1.65(Z+1.5)1/3 : Applicable for dams higher than 30m
where Z is height of the dam
.According to the Indian Standard should not have crest less
than 6 m

2. Free board:. Free board is the vertical distance between the

horizontal crest of the embankment and the reservoir
level
. Normal free board is the difference between top of the
embankment and normal reservoir level
. Minimum free board is the difference in the elevation
between the crest of the dam and the maximum
reservoir water surface that would result should inflow
design flood occur and should outlet works and
spillway function as planned

3. Casing or outer shells:. The function of casing or outer shells is to import stability
and protect the core
. Pervious materials, which are not subjected to cracking and
on direct exposure to atmosphere are suitable for casing

As per IS:1498-1970

&

IS:8826-1978

Side slope for design of earth dams according to Terzaghi:

Preliminary dimensions of earth dam according to

Strange:

4. Central impervious core:-

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

The minimum safe thickness of

the central impervious depends on the following factorsTolerable seepage loss
Maximum width that will permit proper construction
Types of materials available for core and shells
Design of the proposed filter layers
Precedent on similar projects

. Shear strength of the core materials is always lesser than the

rest of the embankment.
. The thickness of the core at any elevation is not less than the
height of the embankment at the elevation so that the
average hydraulic gradient is less than unity

CONT.
The width of the core at the crest of the dam should be a
minimum of 3m to permit economical placement and
compaction of impervious embankment material by
construction equipment
The top level of the core should be at least 1 m above the
maximum water level to prevent seepage by capillary
syphoning
Size and range of impervious core in zoned embankment-

Suitability of material for core-

As per IS: 8826-1978

5. Cutoff trench:. Following are the Indian standard recommendations for

cutoff trench (IS : 8826-1978)
i. The alignment of cutoff trench should be fixed in such a way
that is central line should be within the u/s base of the
impervious core and it should be keyed into continuous
impervious strata
ii. The positive cutoff should be taken atleast 1m into
continuous impervious stratum
iii. The bottom width of cutoff trench may be fixed taking
following factors. Provide sufficient working space for compaction equipment
. Provide sufficient working space to carry out curtain
grouting
. Provide safety against piping
o. Minimum bottom width of 4m is recommended

DESIGN OF EARTH DAM

DOWNSTREAM DRAINAGE SYSTEM:
Filter zones are provided in all earth dams. Provision of filter
zones at downstream side serves two purposes1. It reduces the pore water pressure in the d/s portion of the
dam , hence increase stability
2. It checks the piping by checking the migration of particles.
. Generally three types of drains are provided in the earth
dams:
1. Toe drains
2. Horizontal blanket drains
3. Chimney drains

1)
.

2.
.

Toe drains:Toe drains were installed in oldest homogeneous dams in effect

to prevent softening to which was observed at the d/s toe

Horizontal blanket drains:Horizontal drainage blankets are widely used for dams of
moderate height
Advantage of provision of this drain results from the fact of
stratification of embankment material having permeability in
horizontal direction more than vertical

3)
.

Chimney drains:In horizontal drain the seepage water may flow horizontally
at top of relatively impervious layer and discharge on d/s
face cause surface sloughing.
To prevent trouble with stratification and to intercept
seepage water before it reaches the d/s slope , dam is
constructed with inclined or vertical chimney drains.

Filter criteria:
The dimension and permeability of filter drains must be
chosen in such a way that the drainage system can carry away
the anticipated flow with an ample margin of safety.
Generally a multilayered filter provided in which each
subsequent layer becomes increasingly coarser than the
previous one. Such filter known as inverted filter or reverse
filter.
According to Terzaghi the filter material should fulfill the
following criteria-

CONT.

The criteria given by Terzaghi have been further modified as, provided that filter does not contain more
than 5% of material finer than 0.074mm (IS sieve no. 200)

DRAINAGE OF EARTH DAM

The filter or the rock toe discharges the water into a network
of drains. The drains may consist of open trenches or filled
with rough stone.
The number of drains and interval depends oni.
Nature of soil on which dam is founded
ii.
Nature of the ground
iii. Type of material used for dams

PHREATIC LINE IN EARTH DAM

Phreatic line- Phreatic line or seepage line is defined as the
line within a dam section below which there are positive
hydrostatic pressure in the dam. The hydrostatic pressure on
phreatic line is atmospheric or zero.
The phreatic line can be located by
1) Analytical method
2) Graphical method
3) Experimental method

. In case of homogeneous earth dam with horizontal filter the

phreatic line can be located by Casagrande method

1.

2.

Casagrande methodFor homogeneous earth dam with horizontal filter

Casangrande assumed the phreatic line to be a base parabola
with its focus at F , the starting point of the filter FE.

Procedure for locating the phreatic line graphicallyB is the u/s face. Let horizontal projection be L
BC= 0.3L and point C is starting point of base parabola
To locate the position of directrix of parabola let C is the
centre and CF as radius. Draw an arc to cut the horizontal
line through CB in D

CONT.
Draw a vertical tangent to the curve F at D.
Evidently, CD = CF, hence DH = Directrix
4.
The last point G on the parabola will lie midway between
F and H
5.
To locate the intermediate points on parabola use principle
that its distance from focus and directrix must be equal .
e.g. locate any point p , draw vertical line QP at any distance
x from F. Measure distance QH. With F as centre and
QH as radius , draw an arc to cut the vertical line through
Q in point P
6.
Join all these points to get base parabola. Correction should
be made at every point.
7.
The phreatic line must start from B , not from C
3.

CONT.
8.

9.
.

Phreatic line is a flow line and must start perpendicularly to

the u/s face AB which is 100% equipotential line.
The base parabola should also meet the d/s filter
perpendicularly.
The discharge through the body of the dam , through the
vertical section PQ is given by-

Where :
k = coefficient of permeability
D and H = Co-ordinate of C w. r. t. focus F

PHREATIC LINE FOR DAM WITH NO FILTER

General solution by Casagrande :-

The focus in the dam with no horizontal drainage filter will be

the lowest point F of the d/s slope and the base parabola
BJG will evidently cut the d/s slope at J and extent beyond
the limit of dam.
According to the exit conditions , the phreatic line must
emerge out at some point K , meeting d/s tangentially. The
portion KF is known as discharge face.

CONT.

The correction a for various value of slope by which

the parabola is shifted downward , is found by value= value from graph
a+a = JF (from fig.)

CONT.

The slope can even exceed the value of

for various slope -

.Exit condition

STABILITY ANALYSIS

Swedish circle method of slope stability:In this method the potential failure surface is assumed to be
cylindrical.
Factor of safety against sliding is defining as the ratio of the
average shearing strength to the average shearing stress
Procedure

Slip circle method

CONT.

To test stability of slope, a trial slip circle is drawn, and soil

material above assumed slip surface is divided into a number
of vertical slices.
The forces between slices are neglected and each slice is
assumed to act independently as a column of soil of unit
thickness and width b
The weight W of each slice is assumed to act at its centre
If the weight of each slide is resolved in normal (N) and
tangential (T) components. Normal component will pass
through centre of rotation O
Tangential component cause driving moment = Tr
r = radius of slip circle
Normal component does not cause driving moment

CONT.

The resisting force from coulomb's eq.= c.L+ N.tan

for entire slip surface AB
Driving moment :
Resisting moment :
where: c = unit cohesion
L = curved length
T = Sum of all tangential components
N = Sum of all normal components

CONT.

Hence factor of safety against sliding is-

T and
N are determined by N-curve and T curve by
making ordinates of these diagrams equal to N and T value for
different strips and joining them by smooth curve
The area of these diagrams can be measured by planimeter and
T and N can be computed.

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