Rock Fill Dams

Dr. Muhammad Awais

Rockfill Dam
• Rockfill dams are type of embankment dams where more
than 50% rock mass of varying size and quality is used for
construction of the embankment.
• The rockfill has usually very large permeability and thus
large amounts of water can seep through the rockfill
embankment.
• Thus a seepage control membrane is used to minimize
seepage through the embankment.

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• There are two main modes of seepage control
membrane.
• Internal membrane (central core). The membrane is
located inside the embankment (In figures).
• The membrane materials include earth/clay core,
reinforced cement concrete (RC), roller compacted
concrete (RCC), asphalt concrete, steel or other metals.
• The clay core may be thin or thick, located in the middle or
near the u/s face, may be vertical or inclined.
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External u/s face
• The membrane is located at the u/s face of the rockfill
dam (Fig).
• The membrane materials include:
• cement concrete,
• RCC, steel, timber,
• stone / rubble or PCC masonry,
• asphalt concrete.
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Glennies Creek Dam (67 meters high, concrete faced rock fill dam CFRD)

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Conditions Favoring Choice of Rockfill Dam
• Large quantities of rock usually readily available from
structural excavation or a nearby quarry site.
• Earth materials are difficult to obtain or require
expensive + extensive processing.
• Short construction season (allows simultaneous during
unfavorable weather as excess moisture not an issue for
u/s face membrane dams).
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• Excessive wet climate restricting placement of earth
materials.
• The dam is to be raised at a later time.
• Rockfill can be placed during rainy season.
• Diversion floods are very large and large diversion
arrangements very costly. The flood can flow
through/over the dam without failure or with small
damage.
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• Uplift pressure and erosion due to seepage not a
significant design problem.
• Short structure base lengths due to steeper slopes.

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Typical Design of a Rock Fill Dam
• A typical rock fill dam section consists of a rock fill
embankment with an impervious membrane.
• The membrane is provided to prevent seepage of water
through the body of the dam.
• The impervious membrane may be located on the u/s or
it may be placed in the form of a sloping or a vertical
core.
• A rock fill dam can be constructed either with a straight
or curved axis.
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• A dam with a curved axis has the advantage that with
the pressure building up against it during filling , the
dam section gets compressed and thus acquire extra
strength.
• However, in the case of straight axis the construction
layout becomes easy, and cost of the dam is lower than
that of a dam with curved axis.
• A dam with straight axis is also suitable for smaller dams
and for rock fill dams with u/s membrane.

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• The design of rock fill dam is based on empirical
considerations and formulae, which have been evolved
during the past centuries therefore no computation are
required in their design.
a. Hight of Dam
• The free board requirements of rock fill dam are same
as that for earth fill dams.
• To prevent flashes or run up of water on the crest due
to waves especially in high winds, rock fill dams are
usually provided with wave deflector coping walls on
the u/s edge of the crest.
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b. Section of the Dam
• In rock fill dams that were constructed earlier, the side
slopes were usually kept very steep i.e. ……………
horizontal to 1 vertical.
• However, in modern dams the recommended slope is
quite flat.
• The u/s and d/s slopes depend on the type and
location of impervious membrane.
• The rock fill dams having central and sloping cores
should have u/s and d/s slopes in the range of 1:2 to
1:4.
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• Where u/s membranes are provided the u/s slope are
usually kept 1:1.3 to 1:1.7.
• And the d/s slope at or flatter than the natural slope of
rock which is 1:1.3 to 1:1.4.
• In case of a dam with u/s membrane the interior
section of the dam is usually divided into three zones
i.e. A, B & C.
• In Zone ‘C’ best quality, larger sized rocks are laid and
are well compacted.

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• This provides the required stability to the dam.
• In Zone ‘B’ comparatively smaller sized rocks of lesser
quality are used.
• Whereas in Zone ‘A’ even smaller sized rocks and gravel
well graded and well compacted are provided.
• In the case of dams with central or sloping core, best
quality large sized rocks are placed at the d/s rock fill
zone.
• The rock should grade from fine rock placed next to the
filter, to coarse rock placed near the d/s slope.
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• In areas of low seismic activity, the section of the
embankment described above should be adequate.

• However, dams constructed in high seismic zones with

u/s membrane, the d/s slope of the dam should be
flattened to 1:1.7 for all cases of seismic intensity.

• The width of the dams crest should be such that it may

be sufficient to allow movement of construction
machinery for the construction of u/s membrane.
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c. Impervious Core
• Impervious cores may be central on sloping.
• The design considerations and material for the Rock fill
dams with central or sloping cores are the same as
described for impervious core in earth fill dams.
• Filters are provided both on the u/s and d/s side of the
cores.

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d. Upstream Membrane

• The u/s membrane may be of the following type:

i. Reinforced Concrete membrane

ii. Asphaltic Concrete membrane

iii. Steel Membrane

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i. Reinforced Concrete Membrane

• The most common type used by far.

• For small dams on suitable foundations a reinforced
concrete slab with a minimum thickness of 20 cm is
used.
• In earthquake areas the minimum thickness should be
increased to 30 cm (0.3m) at the crest to approximately
90 cm (0.9m) at the lowest foundation level according to
the formula:
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 t = 0.30+ 0.0034 H
• Where:
• H = vertical distance to the dam crest (m)
• Two way steel reinforcement is provided at 0.4%.
• The u/s reinforced concrete membrane rests upon a
concrete cut off wall or slab.
• The cut off wall prevents the seepage beneath the
dam.
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ii. Asphalt Concrete Membrane
• Asphaltic concrete membrane are the second most
widely used facing for rock fill dams.
• As compared with reinforced concrete facing they are
more flexible and are well suited to rocks settlements.
• The u/s slopes for asphalt faced rock fill dams are kept at
1.7:1 or even flatter.
• The recommended thickness of asphaltic concrete
membrane is 25-30 cm.

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iii. Steel Membrane
• Steel has been used as a membrane material on a
few rock fill dams in the past.
• The performance of steel membrane reported is
quite good.
• However, it is still not a very popular material for
facing in rock fill dams.
• They can be constructed rapidly.

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• One of the common fears about this type of Dam is the
possibility of corrosion of the steel.
• However, if the steel faced membrane is constructed
with proper cathodic protection on both faces and is
maintained properly it does not suffer from such
defect.
• For steel membrane the u/s slope of rock fill is kept
between 1.3:1 and 1.7:1.
• Steel plates used are usually 1.2 to 1 cm in thickness.

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 Case Study:
• Mirani Dam, Balochistan , Pakistan

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 Thanks

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