Modeling groundwater flow and piping

under dikes and dams

Groundwater flow simulator DgFlow

DgFlow simulator

Project history

• Flood control 1202195

• Knowledge for climate 1201351

• DSC mwell 1205933

• WTI piping 1206013, 1207809, 1209435

• WTI macro stability 1206015, 1207808, 1209434

• WTI overtopping waves 1206016, 1207811, 1209437

Project aims

• tool for safety assessment (ringtoets, dam)

• dGeoFlow (mseep, mwell, watex) next to dGeoStability

• research tool

17 juni 2014

17 juni 2014

DgFlow simulator

Processes

• Saturated and unsaturated groundwater flow

• Deformation of the subsurface and engineered slopes

• Backward erosion piping

Loading

• Hydraulic loading by surface water

• Meteorological loading by precipitation and evaporation

• Overtopping waves

17 juni 2014

DgFlow simulator

Implementation

• Quasi-static formulation, steady state / transient, 1,2,3D

• Finite element method, implicit time integration

• C++ kernel, C# interface, Paraview visualization

17 juni 2014

DgFlow interface

17 juni 2014

DgFlow simulation

Water level

variation

head

seepage

precipitation

submerging

uplift

17 juni 2014

DgFlow simulation

Water level

variation +

overtopping

head

seepage

precipitation

submerging

uplift (heave)

Piping mechanism

17 juni 2014

Piping mechanism

17 juni 2014

Piping simulation

17 juni 2014

Piping validation

Lab experiment

17 juni 2014

Piping validation

Numerical experiment

17 juni 2014

Developments

2D assessment tool

• flow modeling and monitoring

• generalization of Sellmeijer’s rule

• multilayer systems

• complex geometries

• heterogeneous fields

• inclined layers

3D research tool

• innovative techniques

• field scale experiments

• laboratory experiments

17 juni 2014

Future developments

Assessment tool

• user interface

• mesh generator

• user manual

• verification

• validation

• benchmarks

• support

• link to dam and ringtoets

17 juni 2014

Research questions

Piping mechanism

• sensitivity to model parameters

• heterogeneity of permeability and grain size

• grain size distribution

• primary and secondary erosion

• single or multiple channels

• 3d effects micro scale

Groundwater flow

• validation in the field

• update Van Genuchten material model

17 juni 2014