Study on the Influence of Impermeable Membrane’s Blanket Length on the Seepage of a Dam

Geotechnical membrane is often used in dam engineering to prevent the seepage. But the research of the influence of impervious membrane on the seepage of a dam is not enough. Combining the indoor model experiment and numerical analysis methods, the influence of the impermeable membrane’s blanket length on the seepage of a dam had been carried out in present paper. By analyzing the results from these two methods, it was found that the seepage quantity of the dam linearly changed with the increase of the blanket length. Besides, bases on the numerical analysis method, the influence of different horizontal impervious blanket length on the seepage of a dam had been investigated, and the calculation formula for different thickness of the foundation had been fitted. Finally, the optimum length of horizontal blanket for different dam foundation was analyzed.