2D and 3D Modeling of Transient Seepage from Earth Dams Thorough Finite Element Model (Case Study: Kordaliya Dam)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• saeid eslamian ¹
• mandana bayat ²
• gholamreza shams ³
• alborz hajiannia ⁴

¹ Department of water Engineering, Isfahan University technology, Isfahan, Iran.

² Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

³ Department of Civil Engineering, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.

10.30495/wej.2021.4591

Abstract

Introduction:Considering Iran's place in arid and semi-arid regions, inappropriate distribution of barley rainfall, water storage and dam construction are necessary. One of the important issues in the preservation and stability of earth dams is the seepage problem, which, considering that the water head in the upstream reservoir of dam is changing in different seasons of the year, the amount of seepage of the dam changes continuous.
Materials and Methods:In this study, transient seepage for 2D and 3D modes was investigated using SEEP/W and SEEP 3D software based on finite element in upstream and downstream reservoirs for saturation and semi-saturation modes.
Findings:Considering this modeling, by increasing the water level in the upstream reservoir, the amount of seepage of dam increases and vice versa, which indicates a direct relationship between them. The accuracy of the calculated seepage thorough SEEP 3D software is higher than SEEP/W software in two-dimensional mode for saturation mode, which its determination coefficient thorough SPSS software is equal to 0.92, in comparing to the actual seepage at that point, which indicates the high compatibility of this software with reality. For the semi saturated mode at the downstream of the dam when the water level decreases upstream, the calculated seepage accuracy in seep/W software is higher than seep 3D software and its determination coefficient is 0.72, which indicates the superiority of SEEP/W software for two-dimensional modeling of transient seepage in semi-saturation mode.
Conclusion:In general, SEEP/W software is more accurate than SEEP 3D software for calculating transient seepage in semi-saturated soils.
 

Keywords

• erath dam
• transient seepage
• SEEP/W software
• SEEP 3D software

20.1001.1.20086377.1400.14.48.7.3

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