Abstract
The seepage reduction in embankment dams is essential to their stability and safety. This research aims to evaluate the effects of penetration depth (16, 18, 20, 22, 24 m), distance from the beginning of the crest width (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 m), and inclination angle (45°, 90°, 135°) of the internal cutoff wall on some of the design parameters in an embankment dam using the Finite Element Method. It was found that the existence of an internal cutoff wall leads to a significant decline in the phreatic line level. Increasing the internal cutoff wall penetration depth decreases seepage flow so that the maximum decline in seepage flow rate is 39.7% for a penetration depth of 24 m. In contrast, by increasing the internal cutoff wall penetration depth, hydraulic gradient and relative drop in total head increases. In addition, as the distance of the internal cutoff wall from the upstream end of the crest width increases, the seepage discharge and hydraulic gradient increase. For a penetration depth of 22 m, the maximum decrease in seepage discharge was about 31.23% for x = 0 m. It was seen that by increasing the inclination angle of the internal cutoff wall, the maximum hydraulic gradient occurred in more downstream locations. An internal cutoff wall with inclination angle of 45° and penetration depth of 24 m was found to have the best performance at reducing seepage by 49.7%. The relative drop in the total head reaches the maximum value with a cutoff inclination angle of 135°.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The authors express their gratitude to all the staff of the water and environmental faculty of Shahid Chamran University (SCU, Grant no. SCU.WH1400.343).
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Haghdoost, M., Lakzian, E., Norouzi, R. et al. Numerical simulation using the finite element method to investigate the effect of internal cutoff walls on seepage and hydraulic gradients in homogeneous earth dams. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 9, 3851–3864 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-023-01755-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-023-01755-w