Computation of seepage through homogenous earth dams with horizontal toe drain

الملخص EN

This investigation concerns to find a new equation for computing the quantity of seepage through homogenous earth dam with horizontal toe drain.

For this purpose the computer program SEEP/W (which is a sub-program of Geo-Studio) was used.

The SEEP/W runs were carried out with three different downstream slopes of the dam, three different upstream slopes, three variable horizontal toe drain lengths, three different free boards, three different top widths and three different heights of the dam.

For each run the quantity of seepage was determined.

The results show that the seepage discharge increased with increasing upstream slope, downstream slope, upstream reservoir water depth and length of horizontal toe drain.

Also, the results show that the seepage discharges decreased with increasing the top width of the dam and the height of the free board.

Using SEEP/W results with helping a dimensional analysis theory, a new easy and reliable empirical equation for computing seepage discharge through homogenous earth dams with horizontal toe drain was developed.

The analysis of the results by Artificial Neural Network (ANN) shows that the length of horizontal toe drain (L) is the more geometrical variable effect on the seepage discharge, while the upstream slope (tanθ) of the earth dam has a little effect.