Stability and Seepage Analysis of Ramma Dam

Abstract

Ramma dam is a newly built small dam located near the new Islamabad airport to harvest the rain water for the needs of airport and the surroundings. Recently built, it is failing to serve its purpose as there is excessive seepage observed downstream. The dam design included a key because of a layer of gravel beneath the top soils which is suspected either to fail in stopping seepage due to its inadequate design or not have been built altogether. To find out the problem and ascertain certain possible scenarios a physical modeling of different possible cases along with its software based analysis were carried out. The research involved the study of the geological and geotechnical conditions of the site and also to review the structural condition of the dam. The research was based on field tests and lab tests. Seepage analysis was carried out in a seepage tank and also using Rocscience SLIDE software. The objective of this research is to identify the problem by comparing the results of the numerical analysis of steady state seepage by the help of SLIDE with the results obtained from the observed effects of the seepage in a seepage tank