Earthfill Dam

EARTHFILL AND ROCKFILL DAMS
Earthfill dam  If more than half volume of embankment consist of soil

Gravel-pebblefill dam  If more than half volume of embankment consist of gravel
and pebble (pasir dan kerikil)
Rockfill dam  if more tahn half volume of embankment consist of rock
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
 One earthfill dam 11 miles long, 70 feet high and containing about 17 million cubic yards of
embankment was completed in Ceylon in year 504 BC.
 Today as in the past earthfill dam continue to be the most common type of small dam.
 Its construction involves utilization of material in their natural state with minimum processing.
 Modern time The earthfill dam were designed by empirical methods and replete with account of
failure  empirical methods should be replace by rational engineering procedure in both design
and construction.
 Bassel (1907) suggest this to the slope of earthfill dam but till 1930’s little progress was made on the
development of rational design procedure.
 Advance in science of soil mechanics  greatly improved procedure for the design.
 1971, hundreds earthfill dam being cntructed up to 1,000 feet above their construction and without
a single recorded failure.
LARGE DAM VS SMALL DAM
 According to International Commision of Large Dams (ICOLD), LARGE DAMS is

 Dam, whose maximum height above the lowest point in the original streambed does exceed >15
meter.
 Dams with 10 meter – 15 meter can be considered as large dams if
a) the length of crest weir > 500 meter
b) its volume exceed > 1 million cubic meter
c) maksimum flood discharge > 2000 cubic meter per second
d) it has special foundation or unique design.
SMALL DAMS is all dams whose does not fullfill that above mention prerequsite
Crane Prairi Dam was complete 1940 with H = 31 ft and Volume 29.700 cu Yards
TYPE OF EARTHFILL DAM
1. Toe Drainage Earthfill Dam (Bendungan urugan Tanah dengan Saluran Drainase kaki)
2. Horizontal Drainage Earthfill Dam (Bendungan Urugan Tanah dengan Saluran drainase
Horizontal)
3. Vertical Drainage Earthfill Dam (Bendungan Urugan Tanah dengan Saluran Drainase Vertikal)
4. Combined Drainage Earthfill Dam (Bendungan Urugan Tanah dengan Saluran Drainase
Kombinasi)
Advantage : Dis-advantage :
1. Homogenous  easy to construct 1. Hardly influences by degree of saturation  to wet
difficult to be compacted,  to dry become hard and
2. Cheaper compare with other type if not
easy to crack.
high
2. If rain  the process should be stopped.
EARTHFILL DAM
From construction point of embankment Earthdam Foundation
1. Rolled earthfill 1. Rock Foundation
2. Hydraulics Fill 2. Coarse sand and gravel,
graded or dense sand  do not pose
stability problems but require measures
From Design point view of embankment for seepage control.
1. Homogeneous embankment 3. Fine sands or medium uniform sand
 may be susceptible to spontanious
2. Zoned embankment liquifaction, require seepage control
3. Earth and rockfill embankment measures to curtail seepage quantity
and minimize adverse seepage forces.
4. Clay foundation  high plasticity, it
From Design point view of Core needs careful investigation and design,
stability problems, require flattening slope.
1. Vertical Core Gravel-pebble Fill Dams 5. Thin impervious layer on a pervious
foundation or strata of gradually increasing
2. Inclined Core Gravel-pebble Fill Dams permeability with depth  high seepage
3. Asymetrical Core Gravel-pebble Fill Dams pressures may develop in such cases near
the toe of the dam. Drainage and or
loading berm require to relieve pore
presure and to avoid the danger of piping
CRITERIA FOR SAFE DESIGN
1. The should be no danger for overtopping.

2. The seepage line should be well within the downstream face of the dam.
3. Water passing through or under the dam should be unable to remove material
of the dam of the foundation.
4. There should be no opportunity for free flow or water from upstream to
downstream face.
5. The upstream and downstream slopes should be stable against the most adverse
conditions to which they can be subjected.
6. The foundation shear stresses should be smaller the shear strength to provide a
suitable margin of savety.
7. The upstream face should be properly protected against wave action and the
downstream face against the action of rain.
CAUSE OF DAMAGE
1. Overtopping 30 %
2. Seepage effect (piping and sloughing) 25 %
3. Slides 15 %
4. Conduit leakage 13 %
5. Damage to slope paving 5%
6. Miscellaneous 7%
7. Unknown 5%
8. Sources : Middlebrooks, Sherard
THEORETICAL ASPECT OF SEEPAGE
1.Basic equation
Darcy’s Law  the flow through soils finer than gravel is almost always laminar.
V=-ki (1)
Q = - k iA (2)
k : coefficient of permeability that has dimension of velocity.
i : gradient or rate of headloss
2. Limitation
a) The velocity (V) should be less than critical fow of embankment material (Vcr)
 loess material will remove and create pore  piping  failure.
b) Discharge of seepage should be less than permittible designed dischargge 
reservoir operation will become not effective

Earthfill Dam

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EARTHFILL AND ROCKFILL DAMS

Earthfill dam  If more than half volume of embankment consist of soil

 According to International Commision of Large Dams (ICOLD), LARGE DAMS is

1. The should be no danger for overtopping.

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