FINITE DIFFERENCE APPROACH TO SEEPAGE THROUGH EARTH DAM

FINITE DIFFERENCE APPROACH TO SEEPAGE THROUGH EARTH DAM

ABSTRACT

When a water retaining structure is constructed to maintain a differential head of water, a continuous flow of water through the structure itself and or the foundation soil takes place. This flow of water from the upstream to the downstream side is termed as seepage. The nature and amount of seepage is of great importance in functional and stability analysis of such structure. Two major destabilizing factor, i.e., amount of seepage and the distribution of the seepage pressure, can be estimated by using Laplace Equation based on the theory of seepage analysis through porous media. Different types of solution methods are available for this equation. Analytical solutions like finite difference or finite element are one of them. An analysis on steady state seepage flow through homogeneous isotropic earth dam resting on impervious foundation is done by finite difference method. The solution procedure is also presented here in the form of a flowchart that further can be used to develop computer programme.