INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

Department of Water Resources Development and Management

EARTH DAM

by
Dr. Deepak Khare
Prof. Dept of W.R.D. & M
IIT-Roorkee
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4.7.1 Embankment dam and appurtenant
structures-basic types and typical layouts

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 Types of Earth Dams
- Depending upon the method of construction:

1- Rolled fill dam.

2- Hydraulic fill dam.

 1- Rolled fill dam

• In the rolled fill dam, the embankment is

constructed in successive, mechanically
compacted layers by “rollers”.
• Rolled-fill Method.
• The embankment is constructed by placing suitable soil materials in thin layers (15 to 30
cm) and compacting them with rollers. The soil is brought to the site from burrow pits and
spread by bulldozers, ect. In layers. These layers are thoroughly compacted by rollers of
designed weights. Ordinary road rollers can be used fro low embankments (such as for
levees or bunds); while power-operated rollers are to be used for dams. The moisture
content of the soil fill must be properly controlled. The best compaction can be obtained at
a moisture content somewhere near the optimum moisture content. (The optimum moisture
content is the moisture required for obtaining optimum density in the fill). Compaction of
coarse gravels cannot be properly done by rolling and is best done by vibrating equipment.

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 2- Hydraulic fill dam

• In the case of Hydraulic fill dam, the materials

are excavated, transported and placed by
hydraulic methods.
• Hydraulic-fill Method. In this method of construction, the dam body is constructed by
excavating and transporting soils by using water. Pipes called flumes, are laid along the
outer edge of the embankment. The soil materials are mixed with water and pumped into
these flumes. The slush is discharged through the outlets in the flumes at suitable intervals
along their lengths.

• The slush, flowing towards the centre of the bank, tends to settle down. The coarser
particles get deposited soon after the discharge near the outer edge, while the fines get
carried and settle at the centre, forming a zoned embankment having a relatively
impervious central core.

• Since the fill is saturated when placed, high pore pressures develop in the core material,
and the stability of the dam must be checked for these pressures. This type of embankment
is susceptible to settlement over long periods, because of slow drainage from the core.

• Hydraulic-fill method is, therefore, seldom adopted these days. Rolled-fill method for
constructing earthen dams is, therefore, generally and universally adopted in these modern
days.

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 Rolled-fill dams
• Rolled-fill earth dams can be sub-divided into:

1- Homogeneous embankment type.

2- Zoned embankment type.
3- Diaphragm embankment type.
 1- Homogeneous embankment
type
• A purely homogenous type earth dam is
composed of a single kind of material, usually
impervious or semi-impervious.

• Can be used for low to moderate heights

 1- Homogeneous embankment
type
• A modified homogeneous section in which
internal drainage system (horizontal filter
drain or rock toe) is provided

• Advantages:
– controls the action of seepage, so as to permit
much steeper slopes.
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 2- Zoned embankment type

• Zoned embankment type earth dam is the one

in which the dam is made up of more than
one material.
• Consists of:

1- central impervious core

2- Shells: flanking the core and more pervious
3- transition zone (optional)
4- drainage system
 2- Zoned embankment type
• Function of shell layer:
1- give stability to the central core.
2- distribute the load over a larger area in
the foundation.
3- The upstream pervious zone affords
stability against rapid drawdown
4- the downstream pervious zone acts as
a drain to control the line of seepage
 3- Diaphragm type embankment
• A thin diaphragm of impervious material is
provided to check the seepage.
 3- Diaphragm type embankment

• Material: impervious soil, cement concrete,

bituminous concrete.

• Types: - Central vertical core

- a blanket at the upstream face
 3- Diaphragm type embankment
• Difference between a diaphragm type and
zoned type:

– The thickness of the diaphragm is less than 10 m

or the height of embankment.
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Components of An Earthen Dam

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• Shell, Upstream Fill, Downstream Fill or Shoulder: These components of
the earthen dam are constructed with pervious or semi-pervious
materials upstream or downstream of the core. The upstream fill is called
the upstream shell and the downstream portion is the downstream shell.

• Upstream Blanket: It is a layer of impervious material laid on the

upstream side of an earthen dam where the substratum is pervious, to
reduce seepage and increase the path of flow. The blanket decreases
both the seepage flow and excess pressure on the downstream side of
the dam. A natural blanket is a cover of naturally occurring soil material of
low permeability.

• Drainage Filter: It is a blanket of pervious material constructed at the

foundation to the downstream side of an earthen dam, to permit the
discharge of seepage and minimize the possibility of piping failure.

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• Cutoff Wall or Cutoff: It is a wall, collar or other structure intended to
reduce percolation of water through porous strata. It is provided in or on
the foundations.
• Riprap: Broken stones or rock pieces are placed on the slopes of
embankment particularly the upstream side for protecting the slope
against the action of water, mainly wave action and erosion.
• Core Wall, Membrane or Core: It is a centrally provided fairly impervious
wall in the dam. It checks the flow of water through the dam section. It
may be of compacted puddled clay, masonry, or concrete built inside the
dam.
• Toe Drain: It is a drain constructed at the downstream slope of an
earthen dam to collect and drain away the seepage water collected by
the drain filters.
• Transition Filter: It is a component of an earthen dam section which is
provided with core and consists of an intermediate grade of material
placed between the core and the shells to serve as a filter and prevent
lateral movement of fine material from the core.
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 Section of an earth dam
• Empirical assumptions shall be made for:

1- Top width.
2- Free board.
3- Upstream and downstream slopes.
4- Central Impervious core.
5- Downstream Drainage system.
1- Top width
 2- Free board
• Free board is the vertical distance between the crest and
the reservoir level.
• Depends on Height and whether there is a spillway on
the dam or not.
 3- Upstream and downstream slopes

• Assume upstream slope 3:1 and downstream slope 2.5:1

or use the table given below:
 4- Central impervious core
1- The thickness of the core at any elevation is
not less than the height of the embankment
at that elevation.

2- The width of the core at the crest of the dam

should be a minimum of 3 m
 5- Downstream drainage system

• Types of drains:
1- Toe drains
2- Horizontal blanket drains
3- chimney drains
5- Downstream drainage system
 Embankment Dam

Earth Dams:
are the most simple and economic (oldest dams)

Types:
1.Homogeneous embankment type
2.Zoned embankment type
3.Diaphragm type
Embankment Dam
Homogeneous Embankment Dam
Embankment Dam
Zone-Based Embankment Dam
Embankment Dam
Diaphragm Earth Dam
Embankment Dam

Rock fill Dam with RC facing

4.7.2 Causes of failure of earth dams

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 Design Criteria of earth dams

• Design Criteria
• Following main design criteria may be laid down for the safety of an earth
dam:
• 1. To prevent hydraulic failures the dam must be so designed that
erosion of the embankment is prevented. For this purpose, the following
steps should be followed:
• (a) Spillway capacity is sufficient to pass the peak flow.
• (b) Overtopping by wave action at maximum water level is prevented.
• (c) The original height of structure is sufficient to maintain the minimum
safe freeboard after settlement has occurred.
• (d) Erosion of the embankment due to wave action and surface runoff
does not occur.
• (e) The crest should be wide enough to withstand wave action and
earthquake shock.

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• 2. To prevent the failures due to seepage:
• (a) Quantity of seepage water through the dam section and foundation
should be limited.
• (b) The seepage line should be well within the downstream face of the
dam to prevent sloughing.
• (c) Seepage water through the dam or foundation should not remove
any particle or in other words cause piping.
• (d) There should not be any leakage of water from the upstream to the
downstream face. Such leakage may occur through conduits, at joints
between earth and concrete sections or through holes made by aquatic
animals.
• 3. To prevent structural failures:
• (a) The upstream and downstream slopes of the embankment should
be stable under all loading conditions to which they may be subjected
including earthquake.
• (b) The foundation shear stresses should be within the permissible limits
of shear strength of the material.
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RIP RAP-Protection of SLOPES

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Seepage control measures in embankment
dam and foundation

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Rock Toe (P39)

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4.7.5 Seepage calculations in embankment
dams

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4.7.6 Stability calculation

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Embankment Dam
Slip Failure of Earth Dam
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Stability Analysis of Slope of Earthen Dam

• An earthen dam usually fails due to sliding of large soil mass

from a curved surface. From several investigations, it has
been concluded that the sliding of curved surface takes
place along its slip surface, which is normally close to the
cylindrical shape, i.e. when cross section is in the form of
arc.
• There have been developed various methods for stability
analysis of earth dam. All of them are based on the shearing
strength of the soil and certain assumptions with respect to
the characteristics of embankment failure.

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Swedish Slip Circle Method:

• This method is used to examine the stability of slope of

earthen dam. It assumes that the shape of failure plane is in
the form of cylindrical arc, and the centre of the possible
failure are is known.
• In this method to analyse the slope stability, the total earth fill
is divided into several vertical segments called slice, which
are equally spaced, though it is not necessary. Depending on
the accuracy desired, normally six to twelve slices are
sufficient. The forces between the slices are considered
negligible; and it is also assumed that each slice acts
independently as a vertical soil column of unit thickness and
width (b). The weight W of each slice acts at its centre point.

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• Let ‘O’ is the centre, r is the radius of possible slip circle and
length of arc DB is divided into 7 slices of equal width (b).
The weight of these seven slices are W1, W2, W3…W7 as
shown in Fig. 18.13. The weight (W) has two components;
one is normal component (N = W cos α) and other is
tangential component (T = W sin α), in which α is the slope
angle with the horizontal.
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The normal component (N) passes through the centre of the
slip circle, i.e. through point (O), hence it does not involve
any moment on the slice, but the tangential component (T)
causes a disturbing moment, equal to (T. r), where r is the
radius of the slip circle. The tangential component of few
slices also creates resisting moment, especially when value
of T is taken as negative.
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If Md is the total disturbing moment, then it is equal to the
algebraic sum of all tangential moments, given as under –

This is the desired expression for calculating the factor of safety

against sliding of the earthen dam.
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Location of Centre of Slip Circle:

• Hit and trial method is used to determine the location of

centre of slip circle, in which several slip circles are
assumed; and factor of safety for each, is calculated. A slip
circle which yields lowest value of factor of safety, is
considered to be the critical slip circle. For reducing the
number of trials, Fellenius has suggested the method for
drawing a line (PQ) on which the locus of critical circle is
fixed.
• The procedure to locate the line PQ for the downstream and
upstream slopes of the embankment is shown in Fig. 18.14
(a) and 18.14 (b), respectively. The point Q is obtained by
taking the co-ordinate as (4.5 H, H) from the toe of the dam,
shown in Fig

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• Similarly, the point P is determined with the help of directional
angles (i.e. α1 and α2). The values of directional angles α1 and
α2 for different side slopes are given in Table 18.6.
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• After determining the position of locus, the critical slip
circle is drawn by considering the following points:
• 1. Critical arc should be passed through the toe of the slope,
except for very small value of ɸ.
• 2. If there exists a hard stratum relatively at a shallow depth
under the dam, then the critical arc should not cross this
stratum, but can be tangential to it.
• 3. For very small value of ɸ ranging from 0 to 15°, the critical
arc should pass below the toe of the slope; and centre of the
critical arc should be on a vertical line drawn through the
centre of the slope, as shown in Fig. 18.15.

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Stability of Downstream Slope during Steady Seepage:

• The most critical condition for stability of downstream slope occurs, when
the reservoir is in full condition and the seepage flow is taking place by its
maximum rate, because at this condition the seepage flow tends to
decrease the stability. In other words, the seeping water below the
phreatic line exerts a pore pressure on the soil lying below the saturation
line or phreatic line, as result the effective stress acting on the soil mass
gets reduce, causing mobilization of the shearing resistance. The factor
of safety (FS) for the earth dam under this condition is given as –

In which, ΣU is the algebraic sum of pore pressure acting on the slip

circle.

The pore pressure at any point is presented by the piezometric head

acting at that point. The variation in pore pressure along the failure
arc is obtained by measuring the vertical heights at each of its
intersection point with the equipotential line.
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• The pore pressure distribution on the critical slip surface is shown in Fig.
18.16 by shaded portion. The area of shaded portion can be measured
with the help of planimeter. However, it can also be calculated by using
the ordinate method. For example, if Au is the area of U-rectangle and x
is the scale of drawing, then total area of pressure diagram (ΣU) can be
written as –

• ΣU = Au.x2 … (18.36)
• In absence of flow-net, the following formula can also be used for
computing the factor of safety for the downstream slope during steady
seepage.

• F.S = C.DB + tan ɸ (ΣN’)/ΣT … (18.37)

• In this case, the normal components (N’) are calculated by considering
the buoyant unit weight (i.e. b. γsuh . cos α) of the dam, while tangential
components are calculated on saturated weight (i.e. γsat sin α).

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Determination of Pore Pressure at the Bottom of each Slice:

• The determination of factor of safety during steady seepage

condition requires the knowledge of pore water pressure
distribution along different trial slip surfaces. The pore
pressure distribution is determined with the help of the flow
net.
• Figure 17.14 shows the flow net for the earth dam. The first
equipotential line (EPL1) intersects the phreatic line at point
a and the trial slip surface at point b. The pore pressure u2 at
point b is equal to the vertical distance between points a and
b to the scale of the flow net or the dam section.

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This pore pressure is plotted normal to a tangent drawn at point b on the slip
surface. The second equipotential line intersects the phreatic line and the slip
surface at points c and d, respectively. The pore pressure u2 at point d is equal to
the vertical distance between points c and d and is plotted at point d normal to
tangent at d.
Thus, the pore pressure distribution at different points is determined in this way and the
extremities of these normal lines are joined by a smooth curve that represents the pore
pressure distribution along the slip surface below phreatic line. The pore pressure ui at the
center of the bottom of each slice can be determined from this curve, by drawing a normal
from the mid-point of the bottom of the slice.
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 IS Codes

• IS: 7894-1975 “Code of practice for stability analysis of earth

dams”
• IS: 7894-1985 “Code of practice for stability analysis of earth
dams”
• IS: 5050-1968 “Code of Practice for design, construction and
maintenance of relief wells”.
• IS: 4967-1968 “Recommendations for seismic
instrumentation for river valley projects”.

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Thank You

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