Probabilistic Study and Analysis of Slope Stability and Seepage-Induced Pore Pressure in Earth Dams

This study sheds light on the phenomenon of water seepage in earth dams while analyzing slope stability using innovative computational techniques. Given the critical role of earth dams, controlling seepage is a central concern during both dam construction and operation. According to published statistics, uncontrolled water flow through the dam body and its foundation accounts for over ۳۰% of dam failures. This study adopts the Monte Carlo method to address the challenges of continuous flow in porous media and assess the overall stability of earth dams. A specialized code was developed using Python programming and the Bishop method to perform the simulations. A comparison with traditional methods highlights the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach. The results are encouraging, suggesting that the Monte Carlo method is a powerful tool for estimating hydraulic pressure and enhancing dam safety by preventing slope failure. This methodology, implemented through the developed code, proves to be more precise than conventional techniques for slope analysis and stabilization. Our method was applied to Al Wahda Dam, where we collected data from the interstitial pressure measurement devices embedded in the dam body, specifically PPC-۱, PPC-۲, PPC-۳, PPC-۴, PPC-۵, and PPC-۶. The results obtained using the proposed Monte Carlo method for calculating interstitial pressure were then compared with the actual readings from the installed measurement devices. Ultimately, the comparison revealed a very high level of agreement, demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of our approach.

Keywords:

Earth Dam , Interstitial Pressure , Monte-Carlo , Random Walk , Seepage , Stability