Assessment of a dam vulnerability to internal erosion due to climate change in Morocco

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the susceptibility to internal erosion of Mazer earthen dam in Morocco under the drying effect causing desiccation due to the threats posed by the drought in North Africa. For this purpose, many erosion–filtration tests have been conducted on samples collected from core soil and downstream filter of the zoned earth dam. Materials have been analyzed with respect to the particle size distribution, plasticity index, permeability and their suitability for dam construction was assessed by using usual engineering guidelines. The investigation involved combined hole erosion and filtration experiments for testing internal erosion of the base soil and the downward granular filter efficiency. The results show a high resistance of the base soil against erosion and provide a method on quantitative measurement of the filtration efficiency and particle size selection. Erosion tests on a previously dried core soil reveal that the desiccation effect makes the soil more susceptible to erosion, indicating that a drought phase may threat strongly the core resistance against erosion in Mazer dam.