Effect of Embankment Soil Layers on Stress-Strain Characteristics

Dam embankments are complex geotechnical structures. In design of the earth dams, the finite element method (FEM) is very often used. The FEM is used in analysis of expected displacements, strains, and stresses of the structure caused by changeable loading or boundary conditions. Deformation of an embankment dam starts occurring during the construction of the dam. These deformations are caused by the increase of effective stresses during the construction of the consecutive layers of earth material and also by the effects of creep of material. 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 calculated for 3, 7, 10 and 15 soil layers considered in construction processes. Results showed that maximum displacement in single layer dam has happened in the crest of the dam. Increase in embankment layers, resulted in the maximum displacement creation in the middle of the downstream shell. The simulation layers for the construction have little effect on the stresses in the dam; however, that may cause a significant effect on the deformations of the dam.