FILTER DESING FOR ZONED DAMS

GEOTECHNICS IN PRACTICE

SELDA DURMAZ
seldadurmaz_22@hotmail.com

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 CONTENT

NTRODUCTION
DEFINITION OF ZONED DAMS
USAGE AIM OF FILTER
SUITABLE FILTER FUTURES
DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER
POSSIBLE FILTER PROBLEMS
FILTER FAILURE MITIGATION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

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 INTRODUCTION

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Adaptable for lots of Easily damaged or

foundation conditions destroyed by water
Economical in terms of
construction material
High settlement and
movement resistance

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 ADAPTABLE

POOR WATER
ECONOMICAL
RESISTANCE

SETTLEMENT
RESISTANCE

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 DEFINITION OF ZONED DAMS

Earthworks material is divided into three categories:

 Pervious for the downstream section,
 Impervious for the core
 Semi-impervious for the upstream section,
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 DEFINITION OF ZONED DAMS

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DEFINITION OF ZONED DAMS

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 USAGE AIM OF FILTER
Soil filters consist of coarser grain soils than the soil used in the dam's
impervious core
 Lower the phreatic surface (seepage line)
 Prevent erosion of soil particles
 Allow drainage of seepage water.
 Provide a controlled outlet to seepage
 Prevent piping and heave at the downstream toe and thus improve
stability

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 SUITABLE FILTER
FEATURES
Not segregate

Segregated Earthfill at Top and Rockfill at Bottom of Stockpile Slope

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 SUITABLE FILTER
Not change in gradation FEATURES

Ballast breakage under tie due to cyclic loading

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 SUITABLE FILTER
FEATURES
 Not have any apparent or real cohesion

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 SUITABLE FILTER
FEATURES
 Be internally stable, that is the fines particles in the filter should not erode from
the filter under seepage flows

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 SUITABLE FILTER
FEATURES
 Have sufficient permeability (and, if a drain, thickness) to discharge the seepage
flows without excessive build-up of head;

 Have the ability to control and seal the erosion which may have initiated by a
concentrated leak, backward erosion, or suffusion (internal instability) in the base
soil.

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 Bu yok
 Not segregate

 Not change in gradation (by degradation or break down) during processing,

handling, placing and/or compaction, or degrade with time e.g. by freeze-thaw or
wetting and drying by seepage flow;

 Not have any apparent or real cohesion, or ability to cement as a result of

chemical, physical or biological action, so the filter will not allow a crack in the soil
it is protecting to persist through the filter

 Be internally stable, that is the fines particles in the filter should not erode from
the filter under seepage flows

 Have sufficient permeability (and, if a drain, thickness) to discharge the seepage

flows without excessive build-up of head;

 Have the ability to control and seal the erosion which may have initiated by a
concentrated
14 leak, backward erosion, or suffusion
GEOTECHNICHS (internal 03/15/2022
IN PRACTICE instability) in the base
soil.
DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER

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 DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER
1) Seepage Analysis

1.1. Embankment Permeability

Based on lab test on compacted samples
1.2. Foundation Permeability
Based on field pressure test in borings

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 DESIGN CRITERIA FOR
FILTER
2) Gradation Analysis

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DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER

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DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER

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DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER
3) Permeability Requirements

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DESIGN CRITERIA FOR FILTER
4) Segregation Requirements

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 POSSIBLE FILTER PROBLEMS
Hydraulic fracture (quick sand and piping)

Started as seepage through cracks in the rock of the right abutment

Dam had no filter-drainage zone
Teton Dam, Idaho
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 POSSIBLE FILTER PROBLEMS
Leakage

Blackman Creek Dam – 2005 Tasmania

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 POSSIBLE FILTER PROBLEMS
Sliding due to pore water pressure increase

Slide on Pawhuska Dam – 2009 Osage County, Oklahoma

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 FILTER FAILURE
MITIGATION
1) Avoid using carbonate rocks as a filter
 Change of grading, due to dissolution;
 Partial dissolution and recemention;
 Interlocking of grains due to pressure-solution.
2) Avoid using sulphate rocks as a filter
the sulphides will oxidise and produce sulphuric acid and sulphate
minerals.Cementation , clogging , weakening.
3) Wider filter zones should be used if segregation is likely and narrower zones
may be used for more uniformly graded materials;
4) Control tests of the gradation and quality of the filters should be performed
after compaction
5) Segregation problems should be considered
Using narrowly-graded uniform filters
Limiting the maximum particle size of the filter

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 REFERENCES

 International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), (1986). Quality Control for

Fill
Dams, Bulletin 56, Paris.
 International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), (1986). New Construction
Methods. State-of-the-Art, Bulletin 63, Paris.
 International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), (1990). Conventional
Methods in Dam Construction. Review, Bulletin 76, Paris.
 International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), (1992). Owners,
Consultants and Contractors. How to improve relationships, Bulletin 85, Paris.
 Geotechnical Engineering of Dams, Robin Fell ,Patrick MacGregor,David
Stapledon,Graeme Bell

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