Indian Journal of Science and Technology

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Seepage Investigation of Embankment Dams using Numerical Modelling of Temperature Field


Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
2 Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Shahid Abbaspour, Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
3 Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
 

Leakage in embankment dam by applying seepage and thermal numerical simulations are studied in this paper. Unpredicted seepage in earthen dams is known as the main cause of damage in most cases. Determination of seepage flow quantity and prediction of dam leakage is very important. Temperature variation in dam body can be simulated to estimate the water velocity in soil layers. While moving through dam body, seepage flow carries all physical specifications of reservoir water, including its temperature. Mass and energy balance equations are discretized for modeling flow and temperature fields. The finite element method along with a mathematical model has been utilized to discretize and solve the governing equations in saturated and unsaturated zones. Shamil embankment dam located in South of Iran is considered as a case study to investigate the proposed model. To evaluate the condition of dam, different cases of soil materials with different permeability coefficients are analyzed and compared with measured data. Numerical results of seepage and temperature modeling are compared and discussed. The obtained results indicate that inspecting temperature data can magnify the effect of leakage more clearly than investigating piezometric head data.

Keywords

Seepage Flow, Thermal Simulation, Embankment Dam, Finite Element Analysis, Shamil Dam, Leakage
User

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  • Seepage Investigation of Embankment Dams using Numerical Modelling of Temperature Field

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Authors

S. Yousefi
Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
A. Noorzad
Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Shahid Abbaspour, Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
M. Ghaemian
Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
S. Kharaghani
Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Shahid Abbaspour, Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Abstract


Leakage in embankment dam by applying seepage and thermal numerical simulations are studied in this paper. Unpredicted seepage in earthen dams is known as the main cause of damage in most cases. Determination of seepage flow quantity and prediction of dam leakage is very important. Temperature variation in dam body can be simulated to estimate the water velocity in soil layers. While moving through dam body, seepage flow carries all physical specifications of reservoir water, including its temperature. Mass and energy balance equations are discretized for modeling flow and temperature fields. The finite element method along with a mathematical model has been utilized to discretize and solve the governing equations in saturated and unsaturated zones. Shamil embankment dam located in South of Iran is considered as a case study to investigate the proposed model. To evaluate the condition of dam, different cases of soil materials with different permeability coefficients are analyzed and compared with measured data. Numerical results of seepage and temperature modeling are compared and discussed. The obtained results indicate that inspecting temperature data can magnify the effect of leakage more clearly than investigating piezometric head data.

Keywords


Seepage Flow, Thermal Simulation, Embankment Dam, Finite Element Analysis, Shamil Dam, Leakage

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst%2F2013%2Fv6i8%2F36347