, Page 0-0 (1)

Volume Title: ICASGE2015

DOI: ICASGE-GEO

M. S. Kirra; B. A. Zeidan; M. Shahien; M. Elshemy

Earth dams’ failure may occur due to different reasons such as structural instability conditions, hydraulic conditions, seepage through the dam body and/or rapid drawdown. In this work, Finite Element modeling is employed for simulating seepage and stress analysis of earth dam problems. Thus, phreatic seepage surface, pore water pressure distribution and total hydraulic head variation of an earth dam are analyzed. The model is verified, and then it is employed to analyze seepage of a failed dam, Walter F. George Dam (USA), for different cases of operation. Benchmark safety regulation criteria (BDS) and (USBR) are obeyed. The results confirm the design of Walter F. George dam is unsafe and seepage failure was expected. A suggestion for the dam design to prevent the seepage failure is presented and checked. As a conclusion, accurate simulation of either existing dams or failed dams is vital.

Earth dams; Seepage failure; Finite Element Modeling; Walter F. George dam