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ENGINEERING GEOLOGY IN DAM SAFETY

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r- M.S. Mundhe Dr. S.R.Kulkarni Chandramohan Haugekar

Director General . Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Superintending Engineer
r- Design. Training, and Engineering,Pune-411043 Dam Safety Organisation
Research 1151, Sadashiv Peth, Nashik 422004
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Maharashtra Engineering Laxmi Keshav Society,
Research Institute PUNE-411030
Dindori Road, Nashik, Tel No.:- +91-20-24477464
Maharashtra, India.
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SYNOPSIS:
An analysis of dam failures of the past has shown that failure to recognize or to treat
properly defects in foundation rocks was responsible for a substantial number of them.
Divisional planes such as joints, bedding planes etc. are of great importance from the
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point of view of dam as they are the main source of trouble during dam foundation.
Dams constructed without taking geological factors of the region in to account have
resulted into their failure, leading to large-scale damage. Watertightness is also an
essential feature of any dam. Leaking foundations are also responsible for unsafe
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dams. This paper presents some engineering geological aspects for safety of dams.
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1.0 PREFACE:
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Dams are key structures in practically all development schemes. They are required for
creating storages of water, not only for irrigation, hydro electric power generation and water
supply, but also-for thermal power stations, industries etc. They control flOOds-and increase

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dry weather flows, and provide the basis of a fishing industry. They also give opportunities
for various recreational activities and can maintain a wetland environment that is favorable to
biodiversity. Dams are thus a great source of wealth, and if they disappeared, the living
conditions of one-sixth of humankind would become untenable.
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But besides being a source of wealth, dams can also be a source of accidents, albeit it few in
number: an average of less than I % of dams has suffered accidents over a long period of time.
Yet the resulting damage and loss of life mean that all such accidents are unacceptable. A dam
prevents the flow of water on surface, but if water is to be stored, it has also to be seen that
there is not a flow below the surface either. This means that the foundation rocks must be
watertight, and if they are not naturally so, suitable steps have to be taken to prevent loss of
water through them. Also, to avoid the disastrous effects of dam failure safety and stability of
a dam have to be assured. These will depend among other things on the strength and
soundness of foundation rocks, which in turn will depend on the nature and structure of these
rocks. An analysis of dam failures of the past has shown that failure to recognize or to treat
properly defects in foundation rocks was responsible for a substantial number of them. The
safety, stability and effectiveness of a dam therefore will depend largely on the geological
conditions at the foundation and these must be known with accuracy and in sufficient detail
before the work on a dam is undertaken. Detailed geological investigations have therefore to
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be carried out for obtaining the necessary information about rocks at the dam site and over the
reservoir area
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Engineers who design, build, monitor and operate dams must take responsibility of their
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safety. Throughout history and even prehistory, it has always been an axiom that he who
builds retains responsibility. The earliest code of written laws, the code of Hammurabi,
r> prescribed that the architect should be responsible for any accidents to his buildings. and
might have to pay with his life. An equally ancient Chinese legend is even more precise: it
r says that builders of dykes were held responsible for any flooding resulting from a failure and
that they would be considered as rebels, and executed. A Tao adds, however, that they were
r- afterwards seen as unjustly treated heroes.

----- 2.0 WATERTIGHTNESS:

r In addition to being a strong the foundation rocks must also be watertight. This is
of course essential from the point of view of conservation of precious water which must not
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--, be allowed to escape, but it is also essential for the stability of the dam, which may be
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threatened by uplift pressure and erosion due to leaking water. A steady flow through leaky
rocks may have an erosive effect which will gradually widen the openings responsible for
r: leakage. This will in turn lead to greater erosion and thus a vicious circle will be set up which
will result into undermining the foundations by continued erosion on an ever increasing scale.
r: Also water that finds its way through the openings in rocks to below the base of the dam will
exert an uplift pressure which will counteract part of weight of dam and will make it unstable.
I'"'- Leakage tinder a dam may take place through open joints and bedding planes,
fragmented rock in fault zones, shear zones, crush zones, etc., porous sediments like
r imperfectly cemented sandstones and conglomerates, or through cavernous limestone and
marbles.
r: The profuse leakage taking place through the joints in the compact basalt at the
foundations in the gorge portion of the Chas Kaman Dam already referred to vividly brings
r> out the magnitude of the leakage that can take place through joints. The heavily jointed
compact basalt flow on which the dam is founded in the gorge portion was left untreated and
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copious leakage took place even when reservoir was only partially filled. This Dam also
illustrates the consequences of failure to recognise and to treat properly the defects in the
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foundation rocks revealed by drilling. The large number of short pieces of core of the
r-,. exploratory drill holes had clearly indicated that the compact basalt flow occurring at the
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foundation was heavily jointed. However, the rock was not treated to prevent leakage through
r: the joints, nor was an impervious cut off of sufficient depth provided below the earth dam. As
the cut offwas not deep enough to block the entire thickness of the jointed flow, leakage took
place through the joints in the 20m or so of the bottom portions of the flow below the cut off.
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Leakage could easily have been prevented by grouting if it had been carried out before
r starting to fill the reservoir. But with water flowing through the joints the grouting carried out
after the creation of the reservoir proved ineffective even after spending almost a crore of
rupees on grouting. As against this similar jointed compact basalt flows occurring at the
foundations of the other dams such as Bhama Askhed, Nira Gunjavni, Nira Devghar, Urmodi,
Temghar etc. were effectively grouted during construction to prevent leakage.
In view of tremendous potential, limestones and marbles have been causing trouble at
dam sites, and need particular attention if occurring at the foundation. They almost invariably
contain large solution channels and caverns which provide passageways for underground flow
of water. and if these are left untreated serious leakage is bound to take place below the dam.
Limestones and marbles must therefore be investigated in detail to locate the solution cavities
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 which must be properly treated to make the foundations watertight. As both the investigations
and the corrective treatment will be troublesome and expensive limestones are among the
most undesirable formation at damsites. The history of dam construction is replete with cases
of dams where limestones have mad trouble. The most famous case is that of the Hales Bar
Dam on the Tennessee which was built without sufficient geological exploration and without
sufficient corrective treatment. As the cavities in the limestones at the foundation were not
properly treated serious leakage took place and it took ten years and ten million dollars to stop
the leakage through the limestones at the foundation. The Monte Jaques Dam in Andalusia is
another dam which has failed to store water because of leakage through limestone cavities.
Carvemous marbles have been encountered at the Kamtikhedi Weirsite of the Pench project,
and limestone at the sites at Koppili Dam in Assam and Navagam Dam in Gujarat.

Dykes of dolerite or basalt cutting across dam alignments are likely channel ofleakage.
They are always well jointed having three mutually perpendicular sets of joints, and are likely
to be leaky if the joints are open. Therefore, dykes occurring across the alignment of a
proposed dam need to be properly investigated for watertightness. However, a large majority
of dykes cutting across existing dams, such as Bbandardara Dam in Ahened Nagar District,
Gangapur Dam near Nashik, Karanjawan Dam in Nashik District, Vaitama-Alwandi Dam of
the Vaitarna Hydro Electric project, Tansa and Bhatsa Dams for the water supply of Mumbai
have been found to be watertight and leaking dykes are few. Only one dyke out of three below
the Gangapur Dam, and one out of seven below Tansa Dam are leaking. On the whole dykes
need not therefore be considered objectionable at dam sites as they were in the past because of
the unfounded fear of leakage through them.
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Limestones and marbles are always cavernous and the cavities present in them must be
r: sealed to make them watertight. Different methods have to be used for this purpose depending
on the size, distribution etc., of cavities. The simplest and least expensive is grouting, but
even this can prove expensive as can be seen from the figures of grout intake at some dams in
tons of cement:
Camarasa Dam, Spain 186,000
Dokan Dam, Iraq 77,606
Chickamauga Dam, USA 59,500
Val Gallina Dam, Italy 28,647

At the rate of Rs. lIper kilogram of cement (prevailing in 1977) the cost of injecting
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cement grout alone (in addition to the cost of drilling grout holes) would be Rs. 18.60 crores
at Camarasa, Rs. 7.76 crores at Dokam Dam, Rs, 5.95 crores at Chickamauga and Rs. 2.86
crores at Val Gallina.
r: Grouting will be effective in sealing the smaller cavities only and for the larger ones more
elaborate and expensive methods have to be used. The Tennessee Valley Authority has
constructed about a dozen of its dams on cavernous limestones and at these dams, in addition
to grouting, one or more expensive methods had to be used for the larger cavities and seams
of residual clay filling cavities, for which grouting could not be used.
3.0 Geology of Mahanshtra State (India):
About 85% ofMaharashtra is covered by igneous volcanic rocks- Deccan trap basalts.
In rest of the portions older rocks belonging to Archaen, Dharwar, Cuddapah, Vindhyan and
Gondwana series of Indian Geology occur. The Deccan Traps mainly consist of basalts, but as
there is considerable variation in the characteristics of basalts, and as rocks derived from them
by modifications taking place in the volcanic process also occur. It is proposed to describe
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\ here some case histories of dams, at which we have carried out geological work, in an attempt

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6.0 Case Histories:-
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At the Doodhgaaga dam site in Kolbapur District the Kaladgi quartzites on which the dam
has been founded have intercalations of shale and there is a deep pool downstream of the dam
alignment The danger of slipping along the shale bands had therefore to be guarded against.
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The profuse leakage taking place through the joints in the compact basalt at the foundations in
r- the gorge portion of the Chas Kamaa Dam (Maharashtra) vividly brings out the magnitude
of the leakage that can take place through joints. The heavily jointed compact-basalt flow on
";"-
which the dam is founded in the gorge portion was left untreated and copious leakage took
place even when reservoir was only partially filled. This dam also illustrates the consequences
of failure to recognize and to treat properly the defects in the foundation rocks revealed by
,- drilling. The large number of short pieces of core of the exploratory drill holes had clearly
indicated that the compact basalt flow occurring at the foundations was heavily jointed.
.r- However, the rock was not treated to prevent leakage through the joints, nor was an
-- impervious cut off upto sufficient depth was provided below the earth dam.
.ir:
As against this similar jointed compact basalt flows occurring at the foundations of other
,... dams such as Bhama Askhed, Nira GUBjavai, Nina Devghar, Urmodi, Temghar etc were
effectively grouted during construction to prevent leakage.
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Cavernous marbles have been encountered at the Kamtikhedi Weir Site of the Pench project
(Maharashtra) and limestones at the sites at Koppili Dam in Assam and Navagam Dam in
Gujrat.

Bbakra Nangal Dam: - Engineering geological knowledge played a key role in the
successful completion of major engineering projects in India. Bhakra Nangal Dam is very
good Indian example in which, geological considerations at the time of construction were
r taken care off, which.played.a.xital.role in its stability and durability. Bhakra Dam is a
straight high gravity dam founded on the soft rocks and medium hard rocks belonging to
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siwalik supergroup, with fault zones cutting across the foundations and abutment in different
attitudes (Krishnawami, 1982). The preventive measures carried out comprised excavation of
the heel clay stones and excavations of the spillway apron, which was tied down to the
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sandstone member overlying the downstream claystone band to prevent erosion. Beside these
special treatments, the cross shear zones on the abutments were treated by providing concrete
r: tunnel plugs and the entire foundation area of the Dam was grouted. Grouting and drainage
curtains were further provided from foundation galleries in the dam and through drainage and
grouting, tunnels were provided in the abutments. No major problems have been faced during
the post construction period of the dam. except for cracks in the upstream (Reddy, 1995).
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Case study ofNandgavan dam-
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Total live storage of the dam is 2.06 Mcum. The dam was built by Maharashtra Jivan
".... Pradhikaran Authority in the year 1977. The purpose of this dam is only for water supply to
Digras city. The dam and all other system were therefore handed over to Digras Nagar
Parishad and there after the total maintenance was done by Nagar Parishad Digras.

r' There are five local nallas in the catchment area of the dam. It was told that on 9-07-05 there
was heavy rainfall in the catchment area of dam, about .about 150mm and at Digras it was
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67mm. The rise of water level in the dam was rapid and more than maximum flood water
level of dam. The height of water flowing over the weir was more than designed flood lift of
2m. This led to increase in pressure on waste weir wall and weir wall collapsed at center for
about 90m length.

Masonry waste weir of about length 90m out of Total length of 190m was washed away due
to heavy flood. On left side some of the bucket portion of waste weir wall was also heavily
damaged. Heavy scouring and undermining due to water is observed. The foundation below
waste weir wall was also seen exposed. The basalt with columnar jointing is seen underneath
the foundation of damaged portion of waste weir.

Well consolidated clay rocks, such as shales and mudstones, will usually have sufficient
strength, but there will always be the possibility of some of them softening on wetting and
losing all strength in wet
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At Kolkewadi Dam of the 3m stage of the Koyna Hydro Electric Project foundations could be,
'r- kept 6 meters higher by accepting 6 meters of compact basalt as sufficient cover for the weak
-- decomposed basal part of the basalt flow upto 0.25 meters in thickness. Foundations of the
',r Vaitarna Dam of the Vaitarna Hydro Electric Project could be raised through 13 meters in
gorge portion by resting the dam on good volcanic breccia overlying weak jointed basalt,
.- instead of removing both to take the foundations below the weak jointed basalt
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7.0 CASE STUDIES OF SPILL CHANNEL EROSION IN MAHARASHTRA

1) Panshet Dam:
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It is about 35 Ian from Pune. It is an earth dam with spillway to the right. Hyrdrothennally
r altered block jointed and deeply weathered compact basalt and volcanic breccia with red
lava matrix occur along the spill channel. It is an ideal condition for serious erosion.
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Therefore very elaborate protection.works were carried-out. Three-fall-structure and-guide
wall were constructed and all around the bed concrete apron protection wall adopted.
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Even after these energy dissipation arrangements, deep gullies have been formed.
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2) WarasgaoD Dam:
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3) Giaod Dam :
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It is an earth dam about 95 KIn N-
W of Pone. The spillway is
- located to the right. Bed gradient
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of tail channel is 1 in 50. The hard rocks exposed in the tail channel are columner jointed
compact basalt and volcanic breccia which is soft and altered. This is an ideal condition
for waterfall. About 6m deep water falls were created in just four years. A number of
retaining walls were constIUcted to resist erosion. But majority of them collapsed. Spill
channel protection has proved to be very expensive.

4) Gangapur Dam :

It is the first major earth dam in the state about 13km west ofNashik. There occur three
basic dykes and sheet jointed weathered amygdaloidal basalt. Tremendous tail channel
erosion has taken place. Guide walls, guide protection and small fall structures are
constructed.

5) Radhanagri Dam :

It is about 65Km west of Kolhapur, .which is a major city in southern Maharashtra. In

first 150m the fall is 22m. The rocks in the tail channel are block jointed compact basalt
underlain by hrdrothermally altered volcanic breccia Deep gullies are formed.

- 6) Malangaon Minor Irrigation Tank:

It is very small M.I tank in Dhule District In two seasons tremendous spill channel
erosion has taken place. 6m*Sm*4m slabs of compact basalt are removed and are lying up
side down in the channel.

r- 7) Karvand Dam( Dhule District), Manyad dam, Thulshi dam (Kolhapur Disrtict etc.)
are some major dams in Maharashtra where serious spill channel erosion has taken place
r: due to similar bed geological conditions.

r- 8) Dams where original proposal of side spillway was changed to central spillway:
r- At number of places where tail channel erosion is indicated either the proposal for side
spillway has to abandoned as was done at Katepurna dam, Kolkewadi dam (Koyoa stay
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11I), Warasgon dam, Mula Dam, or adequate protection has to be provided for the spill
'-.....:.. channel. Spill channel protection will usually prove to be very expensive. Therefore, while
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comparing the cost of a side spillway with that of a Gorge spillway, the cost of protection
works required for the spill channel of the side spillway must also be taken into account.

8.0 CONCLUSION

Geological conditions in the Deccan Traps are not on the whole unfavorable for dam
foundations. However favorable conditions can not be taken for granted because of the
possible occurrence of unfavorable features such as dykes, jointed rock, fractures, tachylytic
basalts volcanic breccias, hydrothermal alteration etc and it is essential to carry out proper
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geological studies to ascertain beforehand what the geological conditions are along the
alignment.

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Anthon

I. M.s. Maadhe, did his M.Tech. (Structural Engineering) from I.I.T., Powai, Mwnbai in 1980. He joined
Maharashtra Service of Engineers Class I through Public Service Commission in 1980. Since then he has worked

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on Water Resources development projects in Maharashtra in various capacities such as Executive Engineer,
Superintending Engineec and Chief Engineer. He has professional experience in Water Resources Department in
Construction Management, Irrigation Management, HRD & Corporate & Administrative experience. He worked
following main Irrigation Projects: 1) Jayakwadi Project 2) Lower Terna Project 3) Upper Peuganga Project 4)
,r- Bhandardara & Mula Project 5) Upper Pravara Project 6) Gosikhurd Project 7) Upper Wardba Project 8) Bembla
Project 9) PumalChandrabhaga Project 10) Khadakpuma Project. He got training in Miaocomputers from
,,-.. Colorado State University, U.S.A. He also published a book "Introduction to Micro-amlputers. He received
Group Award for "Innovation 2005" from Government of Maharashtra. Presently, he is Director General,
Design, Training and Research, Maharashtra Engineering Research Institute, Nasbik, Water Resources
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Department, Government ofMaharasbtra (India).
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2. Dr. S.R.Kalkanll, M.Sc:. (Engg. Geology), Ph.D. was working as a Professor in College of Engineering,
Pune. He has an experience of investigations of more than 100 dams in Maharashtra and other states in India. He
,.- has also worked for foundations in tmmels and bridges. Presently he is a Professor in Bbarati Vidyapeeth
College of Engineering. Pun0-4II043.
/>
r-.. 3.Chandramobaa llaagekar, B.E.Civil is the Gold Medalist from college of Engineering, Pune in 1980. He
joined Maharashtra Service of Engineers through Public Service Commission in 1982. Since then he has worked
r: on Water Resources development projects in Maharashtra in various capacities such as Executive Engineer and
Superintending Engineer . He has professional experience in Water Resources Department in Construction
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Management, Irrigation Management He worked in following main Irrigation Projects: I) Wama Project
2)Krishna Project 3) Kukadi Project 4) Kudali Project 5) Dhom Balakawadi Project 6) Jihe-Kathapur lift Project
7) Urmodi Project 8) Rehabilitation of PAP Project. He has presented many technical papers in National and
International Seminars. Presently he is Superintending Engineer, Dam Safety Organization, Nasbik (India) .
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