Stability analysis of an earth dam under steady state seepage

The aim of the work described in this paper is to describe a numerical procedure for performing stability analysis of an earth dam after the filling of a reservoir. Firstly, the piezometric heads at different points in an earth dam after the filling of a reservoir are obtained with a trial-and-error procedure. Then, the numerical analysis of the dam is performed using the finite element method, with a cap model used for representing soil behaviors. A special technique to handle the effect of steady state seepage is introduced. An example of a reservoir completed recently in Taiwan is illustrated. The results indicate that the factor of safety against stability failure of the dam is adequate.