Government Engineering College, Bharuch

Civil Engineering Department

Design of Hydraulic Structures (3170621)
Tutorials

Tutorial 3
Earth and Rock-fill Dams
CO 3: Locate phreatic line and carryout seepage and stability
analysis of Embankment dam under various hydraulic
conditions.
1 Objective questions
i. Whether the following statements are true or false
(a) The u/s face of an earth dam is considered as equipotential line.
(b) The pressure above the phreatic line is negative hydrostatic
pressure.
(c) To prevent the seepage through the pervious strata of
foundation the cut of trench provided and the material used in that
will be of shell.
(d) Rip – rap is provided at the d/s face of the dam to prevent the
erosion of d/s slope.
(e) For steady state seepage condition stability checking the
reservoir must be full.
ii. The stability of d/ s slope of an earth dam is checked for
(a) Sudden drawdown (b) steady seepage
(c) Construction period (d) against the gully development
iii. The cutoff is provided in the earth dam to
(a) Reduce the seepage (b) prevent piping
(c) Prevent erosion of slopes (d) sloughing at the toe
iv. The pressure above the phreatic line is
(a) Positive hydrostatic. (b) Negative hydrostatic
(c) Atmospheric. (d) Vacuum.
 Government Engineering College, Bharuch
Civil Engineering Department
Design of Hydraulic Structures (3170621)
Tutorials

v. For analyzing stability of dam in obtaining the resisting

force below phreatic line the
(a) unit dry weight of soil to be taken
(b) Unit moist weight of soil to be considered
(c) Unit saturated weight of soil to be taken
(d) Unit submerged weight of soil to be considered
2 What is meant by an embankment dam and under what
circumstances are they preferred?
3 Discuss classification of earthen dam with neat sketch
4 Discuss the causes of failure of earthen dams.
5 Give criteria for safe design of earth dam.
6 Define and explain the term phreatic line in earthen dams.
7 Write down computation of seepage rate using flownet.
8 Discuss Sweedish slip circle method in detail.
9 Discuss the stability of slope of earth dam.
10 Describe with neat sketches various methods adopted for
controlling seepage through body of an embankment dam and
through foundation.
11 Explain different types of settlements in a rock fill dam. Explain
how it can be eliminated?
12 What is meant by pore water pressure and what is its significance
in the design of embankment dam?
13 Explain with neat sketch how would you carry out the stability
analysis of embankment dam.
14 Differentiate between horizontal and vertical piping in earthen
dam. Suggest permanent measures to check vertical piping
 Government Engineering College, Bharuch
Civil Engineering Department
Design of Hydraulic Structures (3170621)
Tutorials

15 How would you proceed to determine the phreatic line through

homogeneous earthen dams provided with a horizontal filter and
without a horizontal filter?
16 Write short note on : a) Rock toe b) Chimney drain c) Relief wells
d) Slope protection in earthen dam
e) Rational design of drainage filters for
earthen dams