ABSTRACT
Construction of depression surfaces and determination of seepage parameters are necessary for proper design of dam, particularly its tailwater part. They are also required for computation of seepage forces in dam, intervening in static computations of slope stability, distribution of soil in dam, seepage strength etc. Seepage parameters in earth dams and foundations must be determined experimentally or analytically in solution of the following design problems: stability of dam slopes; stability of soil in terms of internal suffosion; stability of soil in view of seepage uplift; design of counterseepage components of dam and its foundation; design of drainage; and selection of transition zones and inverse filters. In earth dams, the seepage forces in macroscopic volumes affect the stress-strain condition of dam, while the seepage forces in small-scale volumes act on particles of non-cohesive soil and aggregates of cohesive soil, which in turn gives rise to loss of stability and the movement of particles with the moving water.
