A study on filter design in earth fill dams

Dams are engineering structures constructed for purposes such as irrigation, drinking water supply, energy production, recreation, and aquaculture. Both in our country and in many developing countries, earth-fill dams are being constructed. The aim of this thesis is to model the behavior of filters, which are commonly used as drainage systems in practice, under different dam heights and slopes. Despite the extensive application of filters, their design has not been clearly established. Today, understanding the behavior of filters is of great importance, especially in the process leading up to the collapse of earth-filled dams. In our country alone, some dams have been reported to leak water from their bodies due to insufficient filter length, inadequate filter permeability, and inappropriate granulometry. In this study, numerical models with three different dam heights were created. The aim was to observe the effect of filter length on dam safety in the numerical models. The characteristic properties of the materials used in the dam body were also evaluated in the analysis results.