Earthen Dam-Embankment Dam

Dr. Kiran Yarrakula

Associate Professor,
Civil Engineering Department,
GKCIET - A CFTI Under Ministry of Education,
Government of India
Malda, West Bengal
Mobile No: 8220584487
Email Id: kiranyadavphysik@gmail.com, kiran@gkciet.ac.in
 Content
Dam Definition
Types of Dams
Problems in Dam Construction
Selection of Type and their Classification
Factors affecting Selection of particular type of Dam
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam
Types of Earthen Dams
Methods of Construction
Causes of Failure of Earthen Dams
Design Criteria for Earth Dams
Seepage Control in Earth Dams
Slope Protection
 Definition of Dam and Uses
• A dam may be defined as Obstruction or barrier
built across a stream or a river.
• At the back of this barrier water gets collected
forming a pool of water.
• This side on which water gets collected is called
upstream side and
• The other side of the barrier is called downstream
• The lake of water which is formed upstream is
often called a reservoir, or a dam reservoir, or a
river reservoir, or a storage reservoir.
 Uses

• Irrigation
• Drinking purpose
• Recreation uses
• Industrial Needs
• At the time of floods, dams are used for
protection of towns and cities
• Navigation
• Electricity generation
• Flood control
• Planning for war strategy on enemies
• Dams are frequently opened in times of war
Planning for War Strategy on Enemies
• The Dutch breached their dikes during II world
war to bedevil the invading Germans

• Chinese used to destroy their dikes to flood out

enemy

• Russian army partly destroyed the famous

Dneprostroi dam in the Ukrain to keep its
power plant from falling into the hands o
Hitler’s men
 Types of Dams
• Earth Dams
• Rock fill dams
• Solid masonary gravity dams
Earth dams are made of soil that is pounded down
solidly
They built in areas where the foundation is not
strong enough to bear the weight of a concrete
and
Where Earth materials more easily available as a
building material compared to concrete or stone
or rock.
Important Earth Dams of the World
• Green Mountain Dam on Colorado River in
U.S.A
• Swift Dam in Washington in U.S.A
• Side flanks of Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in India
• Trinity Dam in California in U.S.A
• Maithan Dam in India (it is partly Earthen and
partly Rockfill)
 Rockfill Dams
• Rockfill are formed of loose rocks and boulders piled in
the river bed

• A slab reinforced concrete is often laid across the

upstream face of a rockfill dam to make it water tight

• Important Rockfill Dams of the World

• The Salt Springs Dam in California (345‘ height) in USA
• The San Gabriel No.1 Dam (331‘ height) in USA
• Cougar Dam on Mc-Knezie River on Oregon (445‘
height) in USA
 Solid Masonry Dam

• These big dams are expensive to built but more durable and solid
than earth and rock dams.

• They can be constructed on any dam site, where there is natural

foundation strong enough to bear large weight of the dam.

• These above three dams are well found in ancient days.

• In recent days, four other types of dams have come into practice.
These are
Hollow masonry gravity dams
Timber dams
Steel dams
Arch dams
 Classification of the Type of Dam and
Their Classifications
• Classification according to material used for dam construction

• Classification according to use

Storage dams
Diversion dams are also called weir or barrage
The detention dams –to trap sediment- also called
debris dams

• Classification according to Hydraulic Designs

Overflow dams - Spillways
Non-Overflow dams – Many times Overflow dams and
Non-Overflow dams combined together to
form a composite single structure.
Rigid dams – Rigid materials like masonry, concrete, steel,
timber
Non-rigid dams – Earth and rock fill materials
 Factors affecting Selection of a
Particular Dam
• Topography
• Geology and Foundation Conditions
• Availability of Materials
• Spillway size and location
• Earthquake zone
• Height of Dam
• Other consideration
 Selection of Type of Dam
Topography

• A narrow U-shaped valley flowing between high rocky

walls would suggest a concrete dam.
• A low-rolling plane country would suggest an earth fill
dam.
• A narrow V-shaped valley indicates choice of an arch
dam.

Availability of Materials
• In order to achieve economy in the dam, the materials
required for its construction must be available locally at
short distance from the construction site.
Geology and Foundation Conditions
The foundation strata should be strong enough to carry weight of dam. Hence
the dam site must be surveyed by geologists so as to detect the thickness of
foundation strata, presence of faults, fissured material etc. The various types of
foundations generally encountered are :-

Solid-rock foundation:
• Similar like granite, gneiss etc. Almost every type of dam can be built as it
is strong enough to withstand the self weight of the dam and external forces
acting on the dam.
Gravel foundation:
• This type of foundation is suitable for earth and rock fill dams. For this
foundation, low concrete gravity dams up to height of 15 meter may also
be suggested.
Silt and fine sand foundation:
• This type of foundation suggests the adoption of earth or very low gravity
dam, up to height of 8 meter.
Clay foundation:
• This foundation may be accepted for earthen dam after special treatment.
Spillway size and location
• The cost of constructing a separate spillway may be
enormous or sometimes suitable site for construction of
spillway may not be available. In such cases combining the
spillway and dam into one structure may be desirable.
Earthquake zone
• If dam is located in earthquake zone, its design must include
the earthquake forces.
Height of Dam
• Earthen dams are usually not provided for height more than
30 meter. Hence for greater height, gravity dams are
generally preferred.
Other consideration
• It includes life of dam, the width of roadway to be provided
over the dam, overall cost of the construction and
maintenance.
 Site Selection Criteria for Dam
• Suitable foundation must be available.
• For economy, the length of the dam should be as small as possible and for
given height it should store maximum amount of water.

• A suitable site for the spillway should be available in or nearby vicinity.

• The bed level at the dam site should preferably be higher than that of the river
basin. This will reduce the height of the dam and will facilitate the drainage
problem.

• The reservoir basin should be reasonably water-tight.

• Material required for the construction of the dam should be easily available
locally.
• The value of the land and property submerged by the proposed dam should be
as low as possible.

• The dam site should be easily accessible, such that it can be economically
connected to important towns.
• Site for establishing labour colonies and healthy environment should be
available near by vicinity.
 Earthen Dams
• Earthen dams and earthen levees are the most ancient
type of embankments.

• They can built with natural materials and process with

minimum primitive equipment.

• The cost of gravity dams gas gone up because of

increase in cost of concrete, masonry etc..

• Earthen dams are still cheap as they can use locally

available materials and require less skilled labour.
General view of an Earthfill dam
 Conditions favouring an earth dam
• When funding is low, the construction of an earth dam is
appropriate.

• When the foundation strut is not sufficiently strong.

• In this situation, when sufficient spillway space is not available.

• When there is the availability of local material and sufficient quarry

material near the dam site, this dam is most suitable and economical
in such a situation.

• If the river is perennial (i.e. flows continuously throughout the year),

then in such a situation, the earth is more favourable for dam
construction.
• When the construction of a large dam is not possible.
 Types of Earthen Dams
Homogeneous Embankment type
Zone embankment type
Diaphragm type
Homogeneous Embankment Type. The simplest type of an
earthen embankment consists of a single material and is
homogeneous throughout.
Sometimes, a blanket of relatively impervious material may be
placed on the upstream face.
A purely homogeneous section is used, when only one type of
material is economically or locally available.
Such a section is used to moderately high dams for levees. Large
dams are elected designed as homogenous embankments.
Zoned Earth Dams
• A zoned earth dam make up of more than one type of material. This is the most
common type of a role fill dam in which a central impervious core is flank shells of
previous material on the upstream and downstream of the dam.
• A transition filter generally provides between the core and the shell to prevent
piping.

• The central core checks the seepage through the dam, it consists of clay, silty clay
or clayed silt.
• The upstream and downstream pervious zone gives stability to the dam and it
consists of sand, cobbles or rock or a mixture of these materials.
• The upstream pervious zone provides free drainage during sudden drawdown and
the downstream pervious zone acts as a drain to control the phreatic line.

• The transition filters prevent the migration of the core material into the pores of the
previous zone material. The downstream transition filter is useful during the steady
seepage condition.
• However, The transition filters are omitted if the difference in the particle size of
the shell material and core material is no much or when the seepage gradient line
trough dam is flat.

• In place of central vertical cops them, the sloping core also provides in a zoned type
earthen dam.
• The main advantage is that the downstream portion to the dam can construct first
and the core can be constructed later.
Diaphragm Earth dam
• A diaphragm type earth consists of a thin impervious core known as
diaphragm, which is previous shells.
• It is sometimes know as a thin core dam. The impervious core is made-
up of impervious soils, concrete, steel, timber, or any other material.
• It acts as a water barrier to prevent seepage through the dam. The
position of the diaphragm many very from a central vertical core or at
the upstream faces a blanket, also sometimes known as a buried blanket.
• It may be noted that the difference between a zoned earth dam and
diaphragm type earthen dam is only in the thickness of the core.
• If the thickness of the diaphragm core at any elevation is less than 10 m
or less than the height of the embankment above the corresponding
elevation.
• The dam generally considers being the diaphragm type. On the other
hand, if the thickness of the core equals or exceeds those limits. The dam
considers being the zoned type earth dam.
Diaphragm Type Embankment
Failure of Earthen dam and embankment

Earth dams are very huge earth structures that store a

large quantity of water in the upstream reservoir of the
dam.
The failure may cause vast damages and loss of human
lives. Earth dams may fail, like other engineering
structures, due to improper designs, inadequate care in the
construction and maintenance, lack of maintenance, etc..
Various causes by the failure of earth dam may group
Hydraulic failure-35%
Seepage failure-38%
Structural failure-7%
 Hydraulic Failures of Earthfill Dams
• 4 out every 10 earthen dams
have failed due to hydraulic
failures. The Hydraulic
failure of an earthen dam
arise due to any of the
following causes.
• Erosion of Upstream face
• Erosion of Downstream toe
• Due to Over-topping
• Due to Frost Action
• Due to formation of Gullies
 Erosion at Upstream
Erosion of Upstream face
• The upstream face of
dam may subjected water
waves which are formed
due to winds and these
waves notch-out the soil
from upstream face
which causes erosion.
• Sometimes this may also
cause slip of upstream
slope.
• To overcome this, stone
pitching or rip rap should
be provided on upstream
face of dam.
 Erosion of Downstream toe
The tail water present on the
downstream side or cross-
currents may come from spillway
buckets may affects the
downstream toe portion and
erosion occurs.

To prevent this problem, stone

pitching or rip rap should be
provided on the downstream
face of dam up to a depth of
normal tail water level.

To prevent cross currents from

spillway, sidewalls of spillway
should be constructed with
adequate height and length.
 Due to Over-topping
• Hydraulic failure also
occurs when the water
over-tops the dam crest.
This may be due to
insufficient capacity of
spillway or design without
proper estimation of flood
level or problem in lifting
of spillway gates during
flood times. To prevent
over-topping of dam,
adequate freeboard
should be provided.
The slope fail during construction
• When an earth dam constructed of relatively
impervious soil, the drainage is extremely slow.
• The pore water pressure develops during and
immediately after construction, especially if the
construction is relatively fast.
• The pore water pressure up too almost 100% of
the vertical stress due to the total weight of the
soil is development, therefore the slopes may fail.
Slope failure during steady seepage
• This critical condition occurs when the reservoir
is full and steady seepage is at its maximum rate.
• The direction of seepage forces in the dam is to
decrease the stability of the dam by increasing.
The actuation forced and decreasing the resisting
forces.
Failed during sudden drawdown condition

• The most critical condition occurs when the

reservoir suddenly gets empty without allowing
appreciable drainage from the saturated soil mass.
This stage is known as a sudden drawdown.

• The rate at which the water is withdrawn from the

reservoir would develop the sudden drawdown
stage. Which mainly depends upon the type of
soil on the upstream side of the dam. (Earthen
Dam)