Seepage Modeling Assisted Optimal Design of a Homogeneous Earth Dam: Procedure Evolution
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 2
Abstract
Presented herein is a procedure for arriving at an optimal design of a homogeneous earth dam laid on an impervious foundation and provided with a drain. The procedure, heavily dependent on variably saturated flow modeling, involves optimizing a multiobjective function comprising a weighted summation of four objective functions, viz., the dam section area, seepage discharge, wetted area of the dam section and the drain area. The design variables considered in the optimization are the upstream and downstream slopes and the drain dimensions. The optimization is carried out subject to the constraints ensuring safe upstream and downstream slopes and sufficient distance between the free surface and the downstream face. Two of the objective functions (viz., the seepage discharge and the wetted area) and the constraints are implicit functions of the design variables. Their values are obtained by employing a numerical model of two-dimensional (vertical plane) variably saturated flow in a homogeneous earth dam. Optimization, conducted by the sequential unconstrained minimization technique procedure is preceded by several runs of the model for various combinations of the design variables. The discrete values of the implicit functions so generated are invoked during optimization to compute the implicit objective functions and constraints. The results are presented in the form of nondimensional design tables/curves. The design procedure is illustrated with the help of few examples.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful to the reviewers for their critical reviews and corrective suggestions which have enhanced the quality of the manuscript substantially.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 2 • April 2007
Pages: 116 - 130
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 31, 2004
Accepted: Jul 5, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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