PROBLEM

Earth dam failure is an important issue engineers must consider during reservoir filling. Factors such as internal erosion and piping occurrences caused by seepage can lead to dam failure, resulting in a disaster.

SOLUTION

Seepage analyses (SVFLUX) are an important tool for assessing the possibility of seepage failure in dams and studying hydraulic conditions for then calculating the stability of earth dams. SVSLOPE may be used to calculate the stability of levees and earth dams under unsaturated conditions, with fluctuating water tables, and under rapid drawdown scenarios.

The stresses (and potential deformations) encountered in earth dams may also be modeled using the SVSOLID software.

Finite element scenarios may be evaluated in 2D or 3D.

Please note that most of these models can be downloaded through our SVOffice product suite.

Additional Articles

• SVFlux 3D - Dam Analysis Application

This example shows the calculation of contaminant movement through a clay dam.

Model filename: EarthDams > ClayDamNotched_Chem.svm

Calculation of contaminant movement when a contaminant source is applied to the face of a dam.

Model filename: EarthDams > EarthDamCutoff.svm

Movement of contaminant through an earth fill dam.

Model filename: EarthDams > EarthFillDam.svm