DAMS

EARTH AND ROCK FILLED

DAMS

Overview of a DAM
Dam is the most expensive
multipurpose civil engineering
construction.
It delivers beneficial results for a long
time to mankind
A dam failure can create
unprecedented gargantuan havoc to
life and property through lightning
floods.

Objectives for a DAM

A Dam is a solid barrier constructed at a suitable
location across a river valley with a view of
impounding water flowing through the river.
Dams are constructed to achieve the following
objectives:
Generation of hydropower energy.
Providing water for irrigation facilities
Providing water supply for domestic and industrial
uses
Fighting droughts and controlling of floods
Providing navigational and recreational facilities

Earth or Rock Dams

Earth or rock dams are mainly built out of clay, sand,
gravel etc.
Earth or rock dams have smaller height, broad based
and light weight.
The earth dams are trapezoidal in shape.
Earth dams are planned in such places where the
underlying material is too weak to support masonry
dams or where suitable competent rocks occur at
great depth.
When most of the material used in the dam is earth,
or rock it is called earth fill or rock fill dam
respectively,

Earth or Rock Dams

An earth dam is constructed as a
homogeneous construction with a
properly compacted core of an
impervious material such as clay.
One of the largest earth dams is the
famous Ft Peck, Wyoming dam.

Geotechnical Considerations
The exact location where the dam
should be placed against the river
along its longitudinal profile.
The type of dam that will be most
suitable for that particular site.
The availability, cost and quality of
the materials required for the
construction of the dam.

Selection of sites
Topography: The most suitable site should have
a narrow gorge or a small valley with enough
catchment area available behind it to ensure
minimum uprooting of population, loss of
cultivable land due to submergence.
Technically the site should be strong,
impermeable and stable.
Availability of construction materials
Economically realistic and justified.
Environmentally, the site should not cause
ecological disorder.

Geological Characters for

investigation
Geology of the area:
Preliminary geological survey s of the entire
catchment area should include
Main topographic features
Natural drainage patterns
General characters and structures of rock
formations such as their stratification,
folding, faulting and igneous intrusions.
The trend and rate of weathering and erosion
in the area.

Geology of the site

Preliminary Investigation
Lithology: lithology provides the details of rock types
occurring in that area. Varieties of rock types present,
their nature and extent of weathering, soil and rock
debris should be noted.
Structure: strike and dip of beds, folds, faults, joints,
unconformities and foliation influence on the suitability of
a site.
Topography: information on features like slope stability,
occurrence of landslides valleys, hills, the trend of river
course. Can determine the seismicity of their area.
Groundwater conditions: water table position and the
scope for leakage from the associated reservoir.

Detailed Investigation
Surface Investigation:
Lithology: The important factor in the lithological studies is
to prepare a geological map of the area by undertaking
extensive field work and noting carefully the outcrops,
their attitudes, thicknesses of different beds, their
succession, intrusion if any, and their arrangement
Weathering, soil occurrences, their extent and depth,
availability of construction materials should be recorded
Laboratory studies: provide engineering properties such
as compressive and tensile strength, porosity, ,
permeability, and durability
Petrograhical analysis of thin sections of rocks to
determine the mineralogy.

Detailed Investigation
Structure: Study in detail and mark accurately on
the map the various rock types, the attitude of the
beds (strike and dips) and structural features such
as folds, joints, foliation, rock cleavage and
unconformities.
These details indicate the scope of leakage of water,
the stability and the durability of the dam
Topography: detailed topographical studies help in
knowing the stability, economy and safety of the
site.
Ground water conditions: detail investigation of
aquifer characteristics.

Detailed studies (structure)

If the joints are too many (i.e., more sets),
closely spaced and are of great magnitude, then
such a fractured site will be physically too weak
to withstand stresses of dam.
Saturation with water along with the
accompanying decay of rocks will make the site
more incompetent for foundation.
If the joints dip in the downstream direction,
they adversely influence water leakage.
Joints which dip in the upstream direction are
less harmful.

Detailed Investigation
Subsurface Investigation: Planned
geological and geophysical
investigations help in interpreting the
subsurface conditions fairly
accurately.
Suitable trenches, pits, boreholes
and coring are made at a few places
to get information about the actually
existing geological conditions at
those places.

Causes of Dam Failures

There are essentially five events that can lead to
catastrophic dam failure:
Overtopping of the dam by a flood wave due to
insufficient spillway capacity
Movement within the rock foundations or abutments
on planes of geological weakness
The development of large uplift pressures on the base
of the dam
Piping at the dam toe
Slope failures on the upstream or downstream face of
the dam
Excessive leakage from the reservoir

Case histories of Dam Failures due to

Geological Conditions
St Francis Dam of California
This was a gravity dam having a height of 205 feet
and a length of 700. it was constructed on a
composite foundation of schists and soft
argillaceous conglomerates. These , in turn, were
mutually separated by a distinct fault. This
conglomerate also had veins of gypsum. The main
loads of the dam exceeded the crushing strength of
this poor quality rock leading to the dam failure.
Enormous leakage of stored water occurred through
the conglomerate and the dam failed by sliding two
years after the reservoir was filled in 1926

Malpasset Dam of France

This 200 feet high arch dam was constructed in
1954 in the narrow gorge of Le Reyran river. It
suddenly collapsed on 2 December 1959 following
heavy rains.
The main cause for the failure was found to be
geological- a rupture of the rock below the
foundation. This had induced substantial
displacement particularly of the abutment which
led to dam failure.
The bedrock was a sheared and jointed mica schist
with a wedge with a wedge mass overlying a clayfilled seam.

Practical Problems
An earth dam with a 45000 cubic meters is to be built
from a sandy clay soils trucked from a borrow pit. The
water content of the sandy clay soil in the borrow pit is 15
% and its void ratio is 0.69. the specification requires the
earth dams embankment be compacted to a dry unit
weight of 18 kN/cu.m. Specific gravity of solid particles
=2.7
Determine a) the weight of sandy clay soil from the
borrow pit required to construct the embankment.
B) the number of 10,0 cubic meter truckloads of sandy
clay soil required for the construction
C) the weight of water per truckload of sandy clay soil.
D) the degree of saturation of the sandy clay soil in situ

Earth dams

Solution:
Step 1. calculate the unit weight for the borrow pit material
d =Gsw/(1+e) = 2.7 *9.8/(1+0.69) =15.7kN/cu.m
Step 2 Determine the weight of borrow pit soil required. d
reqd./d borrowed =18*45000 = 81000 kN
Step 3. Determine the number of trucks required.
Number of trucks =18*45000/157=5159.24 =5160
Step 4. Determine the weight of water required.
Weight of dry soil in one truckload (Wd) = 10*15.7 =157 KN
Weight of water wWd =0.15*157 = 23.6 kN
Step 5 Determine the degree of saturation s=wGs/e
0.15*2.7/0.69 =59 %