April 2014

Seepage Control Methods

Part I

Jennifer Williams

Tools to Provide
Collection and Control

Filters to limit piping potential

Drains to collect and control seepage
Relief wells to reduce uplift

Seepage Control Objectives

Prevent Piping and Internal Erosion
Limit Pore Pressures, Uplift, and Seepage
Forces
Prevent Slope Instability and Surface Sloughing
Prevent Wet Spots and Surface Erosion
Limit Loss of Stored Water
The last objective is not a dam safety concern, and
would not necessarily apply to a dam safety modification

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Approaches to Accomplish
These Objectives

Cut off seepage

Collect and control seepage
Collection/control should always be considered
Even with cut off, collection and control may be
appropriate to provide redundancy analogous to
filters downstream of a core in a new dam

Some Collection and

Control Considerations

Can construct remediation where seepage has

been observed
Often can directly observe placement of all
elements of construction
May require reservoir lowering
May require dewatering

Internal Erosion Failure Process

Reservoir Rises
Erosion Initiates
Erosion Continuation (lack of filtering)
Progression Step 1 (roof forms to support a
pipe)
Progression Step 2 (upstream zone fails to
fill crack/pipe)
Progression Step 3 (constriction or
upstream zone fails to limit flows)
Unsuccessful Intervention
Catastrophic Breach

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Filters for Penetrations

Filter Diaphragm or Collar for

Outlet Works

Assuming well-drained

Filter Diaphragm or Collar for

Outlet Works

Dimensions recommended by NRCS for filter diaphragms in

homogeneous dams with no other internal drainage system such as a
chimney drain.

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Filter Diaphragm or Collar for

Outlet Works

For a small homogeneous dam with no chimney drain, NRCS recommends

a filter diaphragm (collar) around the outlet works conduit approximately
2/3 distance through the dam with outlet to the downstream toe for
discharging collected seepage water.

Filter Diaphragm or Collar for

Outlet Works

New construction filter will be constructed higher in the embankment

as earth fill is placed.

Outlet for Filter Diaphragm or

Collar for Outlet Works

Outlet consists of filter placed next to the soil and drain fill placed next
to the conduit. One side is completed other side will be identical.

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Filter Diaphragm or Collar

for Outlet Works

If the outlet works is located in a trench below the foundation level,

the filter diaphragm would extend a short distance into the slopes of
the excavation to intercept seepage that may follow the contact
between earthfill and the natural foundation soil.

Filter Protection for Outlet Works

Embankment
Chimney
Filter/Drain

Shell Core Shell

Zone Zone Zone

Outlet Works
Conduit
An embankment chimney filter/drain that encompasses the outlet works
conduit can serve to protect against the potential for cracking and
seepage along the conduit and the filter diaphragm is not needed where
chimney drains are used.

Filter Protection for Outlet Works

Chimney filter in dam serves same purpose as

filter diaphragm.
Slide courtesy Danny McCook

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Filter Protection for Outlet Works

Chimney filter in dam serves same purpose as

filter diaphragm.
Slide courtesy Danny McCook

Filter/Drain Blankets

Filter/Drain Blankets and Berm

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Shallow Toe Drain

Deep Toe Drain

Toe Drain and Berm

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Trench Toe Drain and Berm

Chimney Filter Overlay

Internal Chimney Filter

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Benefits of Chimney Filters

Provide protection against internal erosion through defects
Lower phreatic surface
Preventing breakout of seepage on downstream face
Increasing stability of downstream slope
In risk analysis, a chimney typically lowers probability of an
unfiltered exit to 0.001 to 0.0001.

Potential Cracking Zones

Transverse Cracks from
Differential Settlement
Effects
Stress release
Cracks over
abutments
Cracks around
Penetrations
Cracks over
change in
foundation

Prevention of Internal Erosion

Through Defects

Without Chimney
Filter

With Chimney
Filter

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Lowering of Phreatic Surface

Without Chimney Filter With Chimney Filter

Top Elevation for Chimney Filter

Historic practice top of estimated phreatic
surface
Current practice
Top of maximum normal pool as a minimum
Often top of maximum flood pool
Chance of untested defects in top of dam

Discussion by R.F. Ripley, May 19821

P. 1194. On the other hand, the writer has not

found a single case of piping or internal erosion of core
fines where the core was protected with a filter zone of
clean cohesionless sand-rich material for which care was
taken to prevent segregation during placement, and
where necessary, the filter zone itself was adequately
protected by appropriate downstream zones.
1 Hermusia F. Soares Design of Filters for Clay Cores of Dams, ASCE Journal

of Geotechnical Engineering, January, 1982

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J.L. Sherard, Lecture, 19841

P. 5. I believe there is already sufficient evidence from dam

behavior, supported by theory, to require the designer to assume that
small concentrated leaks can develop through the impervious section
of most embankment dams, even those without exceptional
differential settlement.
1 Debatable Trends in Embankment Engineering, Presentation to the A.S.C.E.
National Capital Section Geotechnical Committee, Seminar on Lessons Learned
from Geotechnical Failures, February 3, 1984.

Design of Small Dams, Third Edition, 1987

P. 190. Recently, to avoid construction defects such as

loose lifts, poor bond between lifts, inadvertent
pervious layers, desiccation, and dispersive soils,
inclined filter drains in combination with a horizontal
drainage blanket have become almost
standard. Because drainage modifications to a
homogeneous section provide a greatly improved design,
the fully homogeneous section should seldom be used.

Ronald Hirschfeld, Interagency Committee

on Dam Safety (ICODS) article, 19951

Every dam should have a first line of defense against piping, in

the form of a chimney drain and a blanket drain under the
downstream shell, unless the designer can determine that there is no
unacceptable risk in eliminating one or both.
1Design, Construction, and Inspection of Embankment Dams to
Reduce the Risk of Piping, Seepage, Piping and Remedial Measures,
March 23-24, 1995

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Corps of Engineers EM 1110 2 2300 (2004)1

The primary line of defense against a concentrated leak through
the dam core is the downstream filter (filter design is covered in
Appendix B). Since prevention of cracks cannot be ensured, an
adequate downstream filter must be provided (Sherard 1984).

1 General Design and Construction Considerations for Earth and Rock-Fill

Dams

One-Stage vs. Two-Stage Chimneys

Two-stage:
Provides capacity to handle large flow
Negates effects of filter contamination

Relief Wells

Low permeability layer

Confined aquifer with seepage pressure

xxxx xx
x xxx

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Relief Wells
Relieve pore pressures and lower piezometric
surface within confined pervious foundation
strata
Reduce uplift and improve stability
Control exit gradients and reduce piping
potential
Maintenance required
Somewhat inefficient because of limited
capacity and may need to be closely spaced

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