A Comparative Study of the Dam Stability at Various Stages using Numerical Modeling and in Situ Measurements

Abstract

Earth dams remain the most used means of water mobilization in Algeria, due to their lower cost compared to concrete gravity dams and their capacity to resist better to seismic excitations. A study of the hydraulic structure was carried out in this paper, according to simple rules and empirical approaches. During the last decade, several high earth dams have suffered significant failures of the upstream or downstream slopes at the end of construction, after the initial impoundment, and under seismic loads. To prevent this occurrence or to minimize the damage in these hydraulic structures, a reexamination of the earth dams' behavior using more elaborate calculation methods is necessary. The purpose of the current study is to numerically model the behavior and analyze the stability of earth dams in terms of displacements at the end of construction, after the initial impoundment, during an earthquake, and compare these displacements with those measured in situ. A case study was conducted for the Taksebt - Tizi Ouzou dam by using the Plaxis 2D calculation code and the finite element method. The comparison of the obtained results shows a close concordance with the monitoring results of the dam carried out by various specialized organizations.