Abstract
The interaction among seepage, stress and stability of an earth dam during reservoir filling is investigated by a finite element method. A saturated-unsaturated seepage analysis is superposed on a stress-deformation analysis to evaluate the effect of body forces such as seepage force, buoyancy and surcharge due to saturation on the behavior of effective stresses within the dam. By using stress levels mobilized in the finite elements, values of safety factor along a circular slip surface are calculated to assess the stability of the dam during seepage. The strength of soil is described by Mohr-Coulomb' s failure criterion.
Numerical results show that the stability of the dam is influenced by the speed of reservoir filling and the moisture condition at the start of resevoir filling.
