Flow under a Dam -Dam with a Sheet Pile

Sheet pile is one of type of piling, one of the difference between normal pile and sheet pile is sheet pile used as temporary while normal pile used as permanent. Sheet pile can be made from many types of materials such as steel, plastic, wood, vinyl, recast concrete, and fiberglass.

Sheet pile is act as a temporary supportive wall that been driven into a slope or excavation to support the soft soils collapse from higher ground to lower ground.

In order to reduce piping, a Sheet Pile is added to decrease the seepage pressure at the downstream end. This can be achieved by increasing the length of travel. This leads to a greater head loss and hence lower seepage pressure. Various geometries of positioning the Sheet Pile are also possible.

The site under consideration consists of a dam constructed on a low conductivity aquifer. The flow produced under the dam issignificant and this can cause piping of the soil at the downstream end. Piping can cause the soil to be disturbed which in turn is detrimental to the structural safety of the dam.

This article comes from egr edit released