Quick Estimation of Seepage Discharge and Water Level Height Out Of the Central Core in the Zoned Earth-fill Dam

Abstract

This paper relates to the investigation of the amount of seepage discharge and the water level height out of the central core in the zoned earth-fill dam using the finite element procedure by Geo Studio-SEEP/W software. The investigation models were carried out in two shapes of the central core, the rectangular and the wedge shapes, by 200 miscellaneous models. For each model, seepage discharge and height of water level out were determined. Investigation results were examined using the artificial neural network technique (ANN) to demonstrate the influence weight of each independent variable (geometry and characteristics) on the output-dependent variables results using the statistical software SPSS. Core material hydraulic conductivity had the highest impact on seepage discharge and water level height while dam upstream slope had the least impact on them. Two statistical empirical equations were developed using multiple nonlinear regression for both the seepage discharge and the height of water level out using the SPSS software. The recommended equations were also verified by comparing their results with the results of 25% of the models analyzed by Geo Studio software. They showed great agreement that the correlation coefficient (r2) was 97.3% for the seepage discharge equation and 96.6% for the height of the water level-out equation.