Stochastic seepage analysis through the saturated andunsaturated zone of the earth dam

Earth dams are one of the engineering structures in which accurate calculation of the amount of seepageflow is very important. On the other hand, due to the complexity of the calculations in the unsaturated partof the earth dam, the exact value of the seepage values in this part is usually ignored. Furthermore, thepresence of heterogeneity in these dams can cause a change in the output flow. This study presentsnumerical modeling for stochastic seepage analysis considering spatial variability of the soil permeability.For this purpose, a stochastic permeability coefficient curve with respect to suction is obtained via anuncertain wetting branch of the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC). In this way, a computer program inMATLAB has been coded in deterministic conditions and then extended to stochastic conditions todetermine the stochastic seepage flow rate. The seepage has been calculated in saturated and unsaturatedparts of the dam separately. The result shows that considering the effect of the uncertainties of the soilpermeability and unsaturated zone can have a significant effect on the output flow rate.

کلیدواژه ها:

Seepage flow ، Soil permeability ، Stochastic seepage analysis ، Uncertainty ، Unsaturated