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Dam Slopes
Friday, 24 September, 1954
Session 6/ 1
Earth dams usually have a core of impervious material supported on both the upstream
and downstream sides by pervious materials, Fig. 101 (a). Sometimes the watertight seal
consists of a more or less sloping core placed in the upstream part of the dam, Fig. 101 (b),
or of an inclined impervious blanket, Fig. 101 (c). The pervious parts of the dam usually
consist of cohesionless soil (sand, gravel or rock), and the core of cohesive soil.
*.,,*
(a!
>
ib)
,,,,)
cc‘,
The stability of the slopes of an earth dam depends on a great number of different factors,
the most important of which are the following :
1. The design of the dam in regard to location of the core, if any, distribution
of pervious
and impervious materials, thickness and character of the slope protection,
drainage system, etc.
2. The properties of the soil in regard to permeability, shearing strength and deforma-
tions.
3. The acting forces, especially the weight of the embankment, external water load and
the internal water pressure.
In the following analysis of the stability of the slopes of earth dams only the static problem
181
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182 E. REINIUS
is treated and the influence of waves, overflow, leakage, settlements, piping, etc., are not con-
sidered. The conditions of stability are different for the upstream and the downstream slopes,
and therefore, they will be treated separately.
M
sin &. = __
RKr
Fig. 104. Flow net in the upstream part of an
earth dam after a rapid drawdown. where M is the moment of all the acting forces
Foundation of the same permeability as
the embankment fill about the centre of the circle, R is the resultant
1 The numbers quoted allude to the References at the end of this Paper.
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THE STABILITY OF THE SLOPES OF EARTH DAMS 183
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E. REINIUS
----
Eig. 109. Flow net in the fill upstream of Fig. 110. Flow net in aninclined blanket
an inclined blanket for uniform flow conditions at full
reservoir level
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THE STABILITY OF THE SLOPES OF EARTH DBMS 185
contain air bubbles, and the water content remains unchanged, the effective stresses in the
soil also remains unchanged provided that the compressibility of the water is neglected.
Hence the neutral stresses must decrease. In Fig. 111 the clotted lines show the stresses
p,, ‘T~and u1 after a complete rapid drawdown. Tension will occur in the water down to the
vapour pressure if the drawdown is great enough. The effective stresses in the downstream
part of the blanket will then be lowered and the corresponding increase in the volume is made
possible by filling the voids with vapour.
Fig. 111. Stresses along the line a-b in Fig. Fig. 112. Stresses along the line a-b in Fig.
110 before and after a rapid drawdown. 110 before and after a rapid drawdown.
No air bubbles in the soil Great content of air bubbles in the soil
If the soil contains air bubbles, the pressure of the air is equal to the pore-water pressure
provided that the capillary gas pressure in the bubbles is neglected. Therefore decreasing
pore-water pressure leads to an increasing air volume. At a rapid drawdown an inconsiderable
quantity of water flows out of the blanket, and therefore increasing air volume leads to increas-
ing porosity and, consequently, also to decreasing effective stresses. Thus, the lowering of
the total normal stresses leads not only to decreased neutral stresses but also to decreased
effective stresses. The values of the neutral and effective stresses are determined by the
requirement that the sum of the stresses is equal to the total stress and that the volume
change of the soil is equal to that of the air bubbles. The change in volume of the air
entrapped in the pores of the soil follow Boyle’s law if the solubility of air in water is neg-
lected. *
(P, + U)V, = (P, + 24 + W(V, + OV,)
in which
zc = the original pressure
9, = the atmospheric pressure
Au = the change in pressure
V, = the original volume of the air in the pores
AV, = the change in volume of the air.
The change in volume of the soil can be computed from the formula
AVs = cv AUF”,
in which cv = the specific compression
AU = the change in effective stress
V, = the total volume of the soil.
*At great changes of the neutral pressure the variation with pressure of the solubility of air in water
should be taken into account (Henry’s law).
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186 E. REINIUS
The specific compression depends on the value of the precompression and is different for posi-
tive and negative values of AU.
By putting At’, = AL’, we get
-_~_ PlZ
pa+ % aono
in which zdI = the neutral pressure before the drawdown
us = the neutral pressure after the drawdown
no = the porosity of the soil at atmospheric pressure
a0 = ratio of volume of air entrapped in the pores to total volume of pores at atmos-
pheric pressure (at construction of the dam).
From the requirement that the sum of the stresses is equal to the total stress, is obtained
Au = A$ - (uZ - aI)
in which A$ is the change in the total stress.
By combining the last two equations, a+ and do can be determined.
Fig. 112 shows the total, the effective and the neutral stresses along the line a-b through
the blanket shown in Fig. 110. The condition before and after a rapid complete drawdown
is represented by plain and dotted lines, respectively. For the determination of the dotted
lines the porosity and the air content at atmospheric pressure must be known and also the
coefficient of volume change for effective stresses. As shown in Fig. 112 for a high value of
E, in comparison with the weight of the upstream fill and for a high air content in the blanket
the effective stresses would be tension for the most upstream part of the blanket, but, as ten-
sion cannot be taken by the soil, they will be zero and the porosity increase will be due to the
swelling air voids. In such a case the shearing resistance during a rapid drawdown would
be very low, or even zero.
The calculation of the stability of the upstream slope may be made for a broken sliding
surface ADFC in Fig. 113. The fill within the triangle ADE rests on the surface AD with small
or without shearing forces and is supported by the fill within the area CFDE. A larger angle
BAC will give a greater load and also greater
A
shearing forces along the surface AD. The
effective force P, has a direction approximately
parallel to the slope at E and P, parallel to
the slope at G. The neutral forces along AD,
DE, FG, and CFD may be determined by flow-
nets, as shown in Fig. 109. However, if the fill
is very pervious and the ground-water table
within the fill is horizontal and equal to the
reservoir level, it will be more convenient to cal-
Fig. 113. Stability analysis of the upstream
Neutral forces acting on the sur- culate directly the effective weight in water.
~~~~-, DE, DF, FG and FC are not The most dangerous case has to be found by
calculating the required angle of internal friction
in the tentative sliding surface CFD for different
angles and drawdowns. The complete drawdown will not give the highest value of the re-
quired angle. A slightly higher reservoir level gives less effective weight of the supporting
fill CFDE without appreciably lessening the force PI. The point C does not need to be at the
toe of the dam, but may be situated higher up if the drawdown to be considered is obtained
only in the upper part of the reservoir. For approximate calculations the line CD may be
taken as straight, but for closer calculations other types of sliding surfaces should be investi-
gated. It might be that a straight line CF combined with an upward convex circular arc FD
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THE STABILITY OF THE SLOPES OF EARTH DAMS 187
gives lower resistance to sliding. The method of calculating such a combined sliding surface
is discussed Iater.
If the drawdown is not very rapid and the dam is large, the time effect of the drawdown
on the neutral and effective stresses and shearing resistance in the blanket should be calcu-
lated. This may be done by step-by-step calculation dividing the time into intervals, and
assuming the pore-water pressure acting on the surface AD of the blanket to be constant
during each interval.
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188 E. REINIUS
graphical as follows. The force P, acting on the line DE has an inclination equal to the slope
and is determined in order to give the required value of 4 along the sliding plane BE. Along
4
a sliding plane the major principal stress must have an inclination to the plane of 45” - 2.
At the vertical face AC the major principal stress is assumed to be horizontal, and therefore
d
the circular arc AE has a slope of 45” - 2 at A. Further, the arc is tangential to the straight
line BE. The driving force P2 may be determined by use of the friction circle method. If
The importance of choosing the correct type of sliding surface when calculating the
stability is shown in Table 1, which gives the required value of k for failure of a triangular
fill of sand and gravel as in Fig. 115 having an internal friction of tan 4 = 0.80 and a unit
weight of y.
Table 1
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THE S TABILITY OF HE SLOPES OF EARTH DAMS 189
Table 2
( ’
/
Slope 1: 2 Slope 1 : 2.5 Slope 1 : 3
k k k
I
Straight sliding plane . . .. 0.85y l.OSy I.277
Sliding surface consisting of a circular
arc and a straight plane .. .. 0.68~ 1 0%3y 1.06~
~__ I
As shown the method with straight planes gives values of the stability which are 20 to
25% too high.
As shown by the Tables, the conventional methods for calculating the stability of the
downstream slope of earth dams give values of the required forces for failure and thus
safety factors which are higher than calculations using a sliding surface consisting of an
upward concave circular arc and a straight plane. These theoretical considerations need
confirmation by laboratory tests. Such tests have been started by the Author at the
Hydraulic Laboratory of Chalmers University of Technology, and so far tests have shown
good agreement with the new method of calculation.
REFERENCES
1. REINIUS, E., 1949. The Stability of the Upstream Slope of Earth Dams. Swed. Stale Comm. Build.
Res. No. 12 (also Bul. Instn ofHydraulics.), Roy. Sued. Inst. ofTechnology, H. No. 18.
TAYLOR, D. W., 1937. Stability of Earth Slopes. J. Boston Sot. Civ. Engrs., 24 : 3 : 197.
Z: DAEHN, W. W., and HILF, J. W., 1951. Implications of Pore Pressure in Design and Construction of
Rolled Earth Dams. Trans. Fourth Congr. Large Dams. Vol. 1. Report No. 39, p. 259.
4. SAMSIOE, A. F., 1954. Stresses in Downstream Part of an Earth or a Rock Fill Dam. GCotechnique
See p. 200.
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