A study on unsteady seepage flow through dam

A numerical model is proposed to simulate the unsteady seepage flow through dam, with both saturation and water head as variables to describe the seepage domain. Experiments of seepage flow through dam with unsteady conditions were conducted in laboratory to verify the reliability and the accuracy of the numerical model. The performance of the model is also assessed by comparing with analytical solutions. The examples show that the accuracy and the reliability of the model are adequate to handle seepage flow problems with complex conditions. It is also demonstrated that the method of determining the seepage surface through the saturation description is natural, logical and practical in actual applications. The method provides a relatively simple computing scheme, as compared with traditional methods.