Effect of Embankment Soil Layers on Stress-Strain Characteristics

Dam embankments are complex geotechnical structures. In design of the earth dams, the finite elementmethod (FEM) is very often used. The FEM is used in analysis of expected displacements, strains, and stressesof the structure caused by changeable loading or boundary conditions. Deformation of an embankment damstarts occurring during the construction of the dam. These deformations are caused by the increase of effectivestresses during the construction of the consecutive layers of earth material and also by the effects of creep ofmaterial. In this study, Alavian earth dam was selected for stress-strain analysis using Geo-Studio software.The settlements from the single layer embankment simulations were compared with the settlements calculatedfor 3, 7, 10 and 15 soil layers considered in construction processes. Results showed that maximum displacementin single layer dam has happened in the crest of the dam. Increase in embankment layers, resulted in themaximum displacement creation in the middle of the downstream shell. The simulation layers for theconstruction have little effect on the stresses in the dam; however, that may cause a significant effect on thedeformations of the dam.

Keywords:

Alavian embankment , Deformation , Simulation , Soil layer , Settlement