Inverse modelling of leakage through earth dams (case study: Baft dam, Iran)

Abstract

A new combined method for the inverse modelling of leakage from the body and foundation of earth dams considering a transient flow model is introduced in this paper. Reaching a unique result, an objective function that simultaneously employs the time series of hydraulic heads and observations of flow rates has been defined. An inclusive finite-element model that considers all the construction stages of an earth dam has been created and then orthogonal design, back-propagation artificial neural networks and a genetic algorithm have been used to do inverse modelling. The proposed method has been employed for the inverse modelling of leakage in Baft dam in Kerman, Iran. Hydraulic conductivities of different parts of the dam have been investigated for two distinct predefined cases, and in both cases satisfactory results have been obtained. The fitting results show the applicability of the suggested method in inverse modelling of real large-scale problems, which not only decreases the computation cost but also increases reliability and efficiency in such problems.