LIQUID ANALOG CIRCUITS FOR LABORATORY SIMULATION OF STEADY-STATE SEEPAGE

This study proposed a distributed arrangement of a Liquid Analog Model (LAM) for simulating seepage through an embankment dam in the laboratory. Each liquid analog circuit contains two major components of reservoir and friction elements whose parameters are related to those of the prototype dam by appropriate scale factors. Several circuits of the LAM were designed and assembled in the laboratory. To evaluate the capability of the LAM in simulating seepage through the dam, the experiment was conducted in steady-state conditions. The outputs of the LAM were compared to the observed piezometric heads of the dam body and also to the results obtained from a numerical finite difference method (FDM). Experimental measurements revealed that the LAM was a reliable and convenient experimental tool for seepage simulation during steady-state conditions. The ability to provide a visual solution of the seepage partial differential equation is the most advantageous trait of the proposed LAM.