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Hydro Electric Project

- Dam Design

Tan Chuan Ngan

4th Aug 2023
Dam Design
Summary
Dam Design
• Dam Types
• Failures & Autopsy
• Design Steps & Considerations
• Embankment Zones
• Filter, Stability, Deformation
• Foundation Dam Surveillance
• Importance of Dam Surveillance
• Policy, Standards, Guidelines
• Instrumentation, Analysis & Performance
• Reservoir Monitoring
• Way forward & Planning
Introduction
Dams are amazing marvel of engineering
- Contribution to society
- Sheer dimension, physical impact
- Engineering feat, “forever technology”

Purpose: Retain & Control Water Safely to fulfil the Owner’s need
- Power generation, Flood control, Irrigation, silt retention, transportation, recreation
- Economics
- Schedule
Dam Types ICOLD Data

80% Embankment 14% Gravity

Embankment Dam (CFRD, Earth, ECRF) 80%
Gravity Dam (RCC, Conc, Masonry) 14%
Arch Dam 4%
Buttress Dam 2%

Total ICOLD Registered 58,713

4% Arch
2% Buttress

ICOLD
 Khakovka Dam 6 June 2023

Dam Failures
Dam Failures Uncontrolled water release leading to dam collapse
Why? • Overtopping — 34 %
• Inadequate spillway design
• Debris blocking the spillway
• Settlement of dam crest
Dam Breach:
Prov 17:14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; stop it before it starts. • Foundation defects — 30 %
• Differential settlement
• Sliding and slope instability
• High uplift pressures
• Uncontrolled foundation seepage

• Piping and seepage — 20 %

• Internal erosion seepage — "piping"
• Seepage erosion along hydraulic structures
• Conduits or spillways
• Cracks in the dam

• Conduits and valves — 10 %

• Piping of embankment material into
conduit through joints or cracks

• Other — 6 %

Design shortfall, Construction defects, Natural event

ICOLD Bulletin 99 exceedance, Human Action, Deformation, Surveillance
shortfall, Aging, Maintenance shortfall
Dam Failures
When?

WHEN? FAILURE RATE?

• First Filling - 50%
• 1 in 10,000 dams per year
• First 5 years: 1/1,000 per dam-year
• More Common in Small Dams
Dam Failures 1
Teton Dam USA 1976

Earth dam Earth dam

Excessive Rain 3x Spillway Capacity Jointed bedrock,
Death 25,000 Core piping
Concrete Arch dam Death 11
Foundation, foliation, fault
Death 421

Machchhu Dam India 1979 Malpasset Dam France 1959

Concrete Arch dam Mohne Dam Germany 1943

Landslide Tsunami
Death 2,500 Masonry gravity dam Concrete Chute Spillway
Air raid, bouncing bomb Design, Construction
Death 1,500 Deterioration,
Acceptance of unusual
Subdrain flow

Vajont Dam Italy 1963 Oroville Dam USA 2017

Dam Failures 2

Namnoy Dam Loas 2018

Earth Saddle Dam D

Piping failure
Death 26
Ituango Dam Colombia 2018
Earth Dam
D-tunnel blocked by landslide
24,000 evacuated
Dam Failures
– autopsy
Oroville Dam
February 11, 2017 February 16, 2017

February 27, 2017 February 19, 2017

Dam Failures – autopsy
Ituango Dam
• Earth Dam 225 m
• Apr 2018, just months from completion
• 2 of 3 Diversion Tunnels plugged
• 3 landslides blocked remaining D Tunnel, water rising
• 24,000 evacuated eventually
• May 2018, water released through unfinished powerhouse, trashed
• One sealed DT reopened
• Dam construction expedited, prevent overtopping, reach spillway level
Dam Failures – autopsy: Namnoy Saddle Dam D
• Earth Dam 20 m high
• Reservoir first filling, 2018
• Sudden breach, catastrophic flooding, 350 million m3 discharged
• 26 fatalities
• Piping and rotational slumping failure
• Unsuitable core material & process, not impervious
• Core material clastic, sandy, clayey saprolite loess like volcanic
• Basalt foundation not contiguous with core material
• Pore pressure initiate failure by slumping
Dam Design
Design Steps
FEL1 FEL2 FEL3
Identify Potential Site (Master Plan)
Scheme Type, Scale, Layout
Site Investigation
Determine Dam Type
Optimization
Design the foundation
Design the Dam & Spillway (Integrated for RCC)
Design the inlet & outlet works
Instrumentation
Technically feasible, Economically viable
Technically Feasible means capable of being accomplished based on existing technology & situation.
Economically viable means benefits exceed its economic costs, when analyzed for society as a whole.
Dam Site Identification
Low Cost: Narrow valley (gorge), river gradient (rapid, waterfall), adjacent valleys
High Benefit: Catchment, Head, Storage capacity, Precipitation (flow)
Low Impact: Community, Infrastructure, habitat, risk, mineral deposit

Topography

Annual Rainfall (mm)

 Intake

Power Station

Murum Dam
Dam to PH
River Length: 11.5 km
Bed Elev Drop: 225 m
Good Dam Sites – Examples

A
B

D
E
Good Dam Sites – Examples
China Three Gorges Project
Construction, Navigation Considerations

A Shiplift
B Shiplock

D E
 Shiplift 3000t
Shiplocks
10,000t
Design Methodology – Freeboard

R
Freeboard
T
Avoid overtopping Max Flood Level
Freeboard = Run-up (R)+ Wind-tide (T)
Landslide tsunami separately addressed β

• Wind speed 25m/s

• Fetch F
• Upstream face angle β Bakatan S Dam

Freeboard e.g.
Batang Ai Dam = 1.5 m
Bakatang S Dam = 2.3 m

F = 3.5 km

Batang Ai Dam
 Design Methodology – Zoned Embankment
Zones: Strength & stability, deformation, seepage control & draining (compatibility between zones),
construction efficiency, economy, material availability

Concrete Face Rockfill Dam

2B

3A
Concrete Face Slab

3C
3B 3D

1A

1B
1B
3D
2A

Grout Curtain
Design Methodology – Zoned Embankment
Clay Core Rockfill Dam

2C Filter
2D Transition
3A Rockfill
3B Rockfill 2D 3A
5 Impervious Earthfill
3A
5
3B

2C
Grout Curtain
Design Methodology - Filter
Filters: designed to control and manage seepage through the dam structure, preventing erosion and piping
No Erosion Filter Test
S
Igneous Soil oi D85

l
Sedimentary
Soil
Fi 2A
2B D50
lt
er
D15

75µ

Filter Criteria ICOLD 95

a) D50F/D50B = 9 to 30
b) D15F/D15B = 6 to 18, permeability
c) D15F/D85B < 5, retention
d) D75µ > 5%, prevent movement of fine in filter
e) Gradation curves for F & B appx. parallel
f) Not gap graded
g) Coeff uniformity (D60F/D10F < 20
h) Placed with moisture content 3 to 10%, prevent segregation
 Design Methodology – Stability
Stability Criteria MyDam 2017, ICOLD 164

Finite Element Method

Limit Equilibrium Method

- Bishop
- Morgenstern & Price
Stability Analysis

End of Construction

PMF

End of Construction

FSL

FSL + Earthquake
 Design Methodology – Deformation & Stress
FEM Input PLAXIS

Modelling Soil Behaviour

Asymptote

1/a

1/b

Hyperbolic equation

Hardening Soil Parameters (Duncan & Chang 1970 hyperbolic model)

E50 : Secant modulus, triaxial test
Eoed : Tangent modulus, One-dimensional compressive oedometer test
Eur : Unload reload modulus
Rf : Failure ratio. Rf = 1, perfect hyperbola; Rf = 0, straight line.
m : Bulk modulus exponent
Ɵ °: Friction angle,
Ψ°: Dilation angle, Slope of the Ɛv- Ɛ1 plot
 Design Methodology – Deformation & Stress

Z Axis Phase Deformation Max 380mm

• Design joints
Y Axis Phase Deformation +40mm, -50mm

• Rockfill requirements
• Foundation requirements

Analysis limitation: no allowance for levelling the deformations during construction.

Much of the total settlement estimated will occur during the construction phase
and the loss of height will be made up during construction. Face Slab Displacement Max 640mm
Foundation - CFRD

Requirement
Plinth foundation: fresh rock
Zone A: > competent MW Zone A Zone B Zone C
Zone B: > 50% competent MW L/3
Zone C: > 25% competent MW L

Plinth Foundation Zone A

Foundation - RCC Foundation Requirement: Fresh Rock, Treat joints & weak rock infill
RCC dam

Stability, Toppling, Sliding

Tension Crack Uplift, Tension cracks
potential
Foundation - grouting
Objectives: (i) lower the permeabitily of the rock mass
(ii) reduce uplift pressure acting on dam base, sliding Plinth
(iii) prevent internal erosion within the foundation Plan
Methods
i. Empirical design method
View
ii. GIN method (Grouting Intensity Number)
iii. Aperture Controlled Grouting (ACG) method

Consolidation Grout holes

Plinth

Anchor

Plinth
Section
Grout
Curtain View
Grout Curtain Longitudinal Profile Hole
Foundation – grouting How tight should the grout curtain be?
• Lugeon measures the hydraulic
conductivity in rock mass

• Lu = water loss in litre/m-min-MPa

• 3 Lu to avoid piping of foundation material

• 3 – 7 Lu for concrete dams, 5 -15 Lu

embankment dams

Lugeon Rock Condition

<1 Very tight
1–5 Tight
5 -15 Few opening
15 – 50 Some opening
50 – 100 Many opening
> 100 Closely spaced voids
Foundation – grouting, Empirical Method
• To produce uniform rock mass; not as a finite thickness barrier Stop (Refusal) Criteria
• Depth: empirical = 1/2 H to 2H/3 Houlsby 1990 High Tech Equip
• To achieve certain tightness e.g. 3 Lu (refer to Houlsby chart) (Achieve < 5 Lu) (Achieve < 1 Lu)
• Pressure: 0.02MPa /m of depth, highest w/o concrete or rock heave
• Mix: Start with lean w/c 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 0.8:1 Take < 6 to 7 litres Take < 1.0 litre
• Mix thickened when grout take > 150kg/m over 15 minutes in 15 min in 5 min
• Stop (refusal) criteria: Many definitions. e.g. See table Maintain pressure Maintain pressure
• Additional closure holes needed if last stage > required tightness additional 15 min additional 15 min
Foundation – grouting, GIN Method
Grouting Intensity Number (GIN) method:
• a single stable grout mix w/c = 0.8:1
• monitor pressure, flowrate, volume injected, penetrability vs time (PC graphics required)
• Terminate grouting when pressure vs volume intersects one of the curves

GIN = p.V ; p is final grouting pressure, V volume injected.

3~6 Lu
Foundation – grouting, ACG
Aperture Controlled Grouting (ACG) state of the art method
Approach: Observational i.e. prelim design adjusted during execution
Steps
1. Hydrogeological investigation
2. Estimate the depth based on Lu test (see diagram)
3. Calculation the rock fracture aperture from the Lu test for each rock mass type
4. Estimate grout mix required to penetrate the rock aperture for each rock mass type
5. Calculate the grout curtain thickness T to fulfill the uplift pressure downstream
6. Determine the grout hole spacing to achieve T (overlap of grout spread)
7. Grouting pressure: to avoid hydro jacking, overburden
8. Stop criteria for grouting: a) grouting time is calculated penetration time to reach Spread
b) grout volume based on largest fracture aperture
9. During execution, adjust any calculated values from site measurement

Required Lu

T
T
hydrogeological
investigation
Thank You