Geotechnical Engineering of Dams

Robin Fell is Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and also works as a consultant. He has more than 40 years of experience in geotechnical engineering of dams, landslides and civil and mining projects in Australia and Asia. He has worked on over 100 dams worldwide and has been involved in all aspects of planning, site investigation, design and construction of embankment dams. Patrick MacGregor is a Consulting Engineering Geologist with more than 40 years experience in the assessment of geological constraints for major civil engineering projects in a number of countries. He has been involved in dam investigation, design and construction, and particularly worked on hydroelectric developments at all stages from inception to operation. David Stapledon spent many years investigating large dam construction sites in various countries. He was a Professor of Engineering Geology at the University of South Australia (1964 -1993) and worked as a Consultant in Engineering Geology, contributing to major dam projects in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. He has more than 50 years of experience and was awarded the John Jaeger Memorial Medal for Contributions to Geomechanics in 1995. Graeme Bell has been a Consulting Dam Engineer since 1962. His role has varied from providing the full technical input, design management and construction advice for new dams to the preparation of complex structural analyses of existing dams. From 1979, he has acted as an independent reviewer on many dam projects, mainly in Australia, but also in several overseas locations. Mark Foster has 20 years of experience in dam engineering and geotechnical engineering. This has involved a wide variety of projects including dam safety reviews, design of dam upgrade projects and dam safety risk assessments for embankment and concrete dams. He has a particular interest in the assessment of piping and internal erosion of embankment dams which was the topic of his doctoral research studies at the University of New South Wales.

1 Introduction; 2 Key Geological Issues; 3 Geotechnical Questions Associated With Various Geological Environments; 4 Planning, Conducting and Reporting of Geotechnical Investigations; 5 Site Investigation Techniques; 6 Shear Strength, Compressibility and Permeability of Embankment Materials and Soil Foundations; 7 Clay Mineralogy, Soil Properties, and Dispersive Soils; 8 Internal Erosion and Piping of Embankment Dams and in Dam Foundations; 9 Design, Specification and Construction of Filters; 10 Embankment Dams, Their Zoning and Design for Control of Seepage and Internal Erosion and Piping; 11 Analysis of Stability and Deformations; 12 Design of Embankment Dams to Withstand Earthquakes; 13 Embankment Dam Details; 14 Specification and Quality Control of Earthfill and Rockfill; 15 Concrete Face Rockfill Dams; 16 Concrete Gravity Dams and Their Foundations; 17 Foundation Preparation and Cleanup for Embankment and Concrete Dams; 18 Foundation Grouting; 19 Mine and Industrial Tailings Dams; 20 Monitoring and Surveillance of Embankment Dams; Appendix A: Methods for Estimating the Probability of Failure by Internal Erosion and Piping