SVFlux - 2D Gallery - Cutoff Wall Problems

Impervious

Detailed calculation of flowlines around a retaining wall structure. Model setup time: 8 minutes Solution time: 7 seconds on PIII-1.0 GHz Nodes: 1228

Seepage analysis of cutoff walls is useful in order to determine if high gradients develop at the base of the cutoff wall or on the downstream exit point. The automatic mesh refinement in SVFlux is excellent for addressing this type of problem.

True exit gradients are often mis-calculated when a fixed-mesh applications are used to analyze this type of problem. Automatic mesh refinement causes additional nodes to be placed in critical zones in order to increase solution accuracy.

Understanding the flow regime of earth dam structures is critical to their correct long-term performance. If internal/exit gradients become high it can lead to a piping failure. If there is rapid draindown it can lead to an internal build-up of pore-water pressures which may result in a slope-stability failure. Both of these scenarios may be analyzed with the SVFlux software.