Modeling transient groundwater flow under dikes and DAMS for stability assessment

Dikes and dams protect the land from flooding by mitigating high water levels. However, water penetrating the dike and the subsoil during high water periods reduces the strength of the dike due to the increase in pore pressure. Moreover, the raise in hydraulic head in deeper layers may lead to uplift of the top layer at the polder side of the dike, and finally an increase in the potential head gradient might lead to an internal erosion process …