NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF SEEPAGE OF DIAMER BASHA DAM

Abstract

A dam is a hydraulic structure, constructed across a water channel for water pondage, which is used for various purposes, such as flood control, irrigation, navigation, sedimentation control and hydro-power generation.Like other components deformation and sseepage analyses are integral part of dam design, requiring key attention from engineers, scientists and researchers considering its safety perspectives. If seepage and deformations are not properly controlled, the dam structure fails causing significant human and financial losses. Therefore, this study investigates the seepage and deformation behaviour of a dam using SEEP/W and SIGMA/W finite element models. The data of Diamer Basha dam is used for this purpose. This dam is a roller compacted concrete gravity dam, lying on rock foundation. The data for material properties and geometry of dam for analysis was obtained from consultants. Boundary conditions were chosen very carefully. The data regarding the loads applied in the model including upstream hydro-static pressure, downstream hydro-static pressure, uplift pressure and self-weight were also collected from the available research reports.The seepage is examined using steady state and transient conditions for the reservoir levels at normal operational level (minimum, maximum) and safety check flood level. Various scenarios of grout curtain and reservoir levels have been investigated for deformation analysis. The study is quite useful as the dam under study is tall one and it provides several useful recommendations to the industry practitioners.