Modeling of Underground Dams Application to Planning in the Semi Arid Areas (Biskra, Algeria)

Abstract In arid and semi-arid areas where desertification is progressing, exploitation of water resources is focused on surface water and groundwater who pose sustainability problem. The exploitation of surface water uses “surface dam” heavily exposed to evaporation and cannot perform the function of “dam-reservoir” in the dry season. We envision the use of groundwater by the underground dams, designed to contain groundwater and accumulate water. Compared with conventional dam, underground dams have the advantage of not overwhelm the land, offer particularly low evaporation losses and preserve the environment. A DEM and the river network of the study area were obtained by ArcGIS software The results obtained were injected into Modflow to extract the discharge. The dam body stability has been verified and validated using a model of the fluid-structure interaction under the platform “COMSOL Multiphysics”. A significant gain in water volume is found by storing away the long intense sunshine and evaporation. COMSOL allows us to have an optimal design of the dam body.The development of the region requires necessary a control of water resources.