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Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

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Chapter 5—Foundation and <strong>Embankment</strong> DamAveragewetting frontActualwetting frontFigure 81.—On first filling, a high hydraulic gradient exists in theembankment dam as a wetting front moves <strong>through</strong> the dam. The wettingfront will not be smooth. Projections will exist due to the differentpermeability of the embankment dam. The water pressure pushing againstthe soil can easily be greater than the lateral stress, and hydraulic fracturecan result. Figure courtesy of ASDSO.Figure 82.—The failure of this embankment dam located in South Carolinawas attributed to hydraulic fracture. The eroded seam located to the rightof the conduit may have been the hydraulic fracture that formed andallowed internal erosion and failure of the embankment dam. Theembankment was composed of dispersive clays.117

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